Not What You Would Expect
by swordfighting-cherry
Summary: Falling in love is the easy part. It's figuring out how to be together when he's your best friend's older brother and she's your younger brother's best friend that's hard. Delena. AU/AH.
1. Bullies and Bandaids

**A/N: [EDIT-This was originally a prequel to TIHIL, but the characters got away with me and sort of took over. That being said, Caroline, Katherine, and the Originals won't show up until this story's sequel. :) Thank you! Hope you enjoy!]**

_**Disclaimer: And last but not least, all characters and settings belong to the CW and LJ Smith.**_

* * *

_Third Grade_

"Stefan and Elena kissing in the tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage."

Both Elena and Stefan ignored Duke, the fifth grader who was singing in a taunting tone at them. Neither of them cared about being teased for being boyfriend and girlfriend, they had been friends for too long and both of their parents and Damon did it anyway. This only seemed to make Duke even more angry though, and he snapped, "Your eyes look like _mud_, Elena. They're gross."

This made Elena stop swinging and frown. She had never been told that her eyes or any part of her was ugly, and for a minute she felt like crying, but Stefan quickly said, "No, they don't. Go away, Duke."

"You only think that cause you're in love with her," Duke told Stefan, and Elena felt the happiness she had at Stefan standing up for her fade, "I bet you're even having sex with her."

Elena looked at Stefan and he looked just as confused as she did, but both of them knew enough to know that it was really mean and bad. Stefan looked angry and he stopped swinging as well. Duke sneered. "What, are you going to fight me, little kid?"

Stefan didn't look like he was going to fight him. He knew he would get in trouble with the teachers and then his Dad would be mad. Plus Duke was more than twice Stefan's size. Elena thought about telling, but she knew Duke would only tease her about that next. She didn't notice Damon had come up from behind them until she heard him say, "What are you doing, Duke?"

Duke glared at Damon, "Don't worry about it."

"He's my brother," Damon said angrily, looking scary even though Duke was still bigger than him too. Elena thought Duke looked a little afraid too. "so you better leave him alone."

"Fine. Elena's the one with stupid eyes," he said, "although your brother thinks they're cute. I bet they're having sex—,"

Damon lunged at Duke, pinning him to the ground and beginning to punch him. Whatever Duke had meant, Damon seemed to understand. Stefan moved forward to help Damon, and Elena saw that a teacher was coming over and tried telling both of them to stop. Miss Pearl reached them before that happened though, and she pulled them apart easily with a very strict glare and a mean voice as she asked, "What is going on here? Damon, I've told you about fighting already—,"

"It's not his fault!" Elena defended, and Miss Pearl looked to her appraisingly. Even though she probably wouldn't believe Stefan cause it was his brother, everyone knew Elena followed the rules. "Duke said I had ugly eyes and then— well then he said something really mean, but I don't know what it means."

She looked to Damon then, hoping he would explain to the teacher. Damon glared at Duke, looking as though he was only seconds from punching him as soon as he could, saying, "He said Stefan and Elena were having sex cause he's a pervert and his mom is such a slut."

"Damon!" Miss Pearl admonished. He didn't look sorry, though.

"Yeah, well at least my mom didn't die cause she hated me so much!" Duke argued, and not even Miss Pearl could hold back Damon then, or Stefan. If Miss Pearl wasn't standing right there Elena would probably have helped them. Miss Pearl left to get another teacher after yelling for a few minutes and it wasn't until Duke had two black eyes and a cut lip that the P.E. teacher Mr. Hamilton pulled them apart.

Stefan only had a bruise on his cheek, but Damon's forehead was bleeding pretty badly which made Elena actually want to cry. Mr. Hamilton and Miss Pearl marched them all to principal Fell's office, and while Elena wasn't too worried cause she hadn't fought anyone, she was still scared for Stefan and Damon. Principal Fell took one look at all of them before having Elena explain everything, and then gave Stefan and Damon detention and Duke suspension before making both of them go to the nurse. Stefan waited in the office with Duke and the principal while their parents were called and Elena was allowed to walk Damon to the nurse. (Duke's lip had stopped bleeding.)

"Sorry, Damon," Elena said, feeling extremely sad that he had gotten hurt.

"It's okay," he shrugged, holding a tissue to his forehead clumsily. Elena hated the sight of the blood.

"He was a huge jerk about your mom," she said, unable to help from talking again, "I know she loved you and Stefan a lot."

Damon looked over at her, but all he said was, "Thanks."

"Do you think my eyes are ugly?" she asked, hoping she wasn't being too annoying. She knew how annoying kids that were littler than you could be cause of Jeremy.

He looked over her again, looking at her eyes for a moment without saying anything. She felt really nervous, now that she had asked him. She only wanted to know cause Duke had said what Stefan said didn't count, and she knew that Damon wouldn't lie to her. "No. Duke was just being mean cause you're pretty."

Elena felt herself breathe a sigh of relief, even though she thought it was super gross that Duke might like her, and Damon said, "Maybe you should find some girl friends to hang out with though."

"Why?" She asked, feeling her stomach fall. She had been friends with Stefan forever and Damon had never complained. Did Damon not like her now?

"Because people are going to keep teasing you about him." He answered as they reached the nurse's office. He went inside and she sat on the bench outside instead and thought about what he said.

She had never cared about people teasing her and Stefan but maybe Damon was right. He was older after all. Plus Stefan wouldn't ever play Barbies with her cause he was too scared that Damon would find out. She wondered who she should be friends with. Dana was in her class and she was nice, but Elena thought about how she liked the color pink and that was really girly. She would probably only want to play tea parties or something. Amber was also nice, but she had a crush on Stefan and that would be weird. Amy only talked about things like the Backstreet boys. Maybe Bonnie, Elena thought, thinking how the girl was always really nice to her and talked about cool things like witches and magic. Yeah, Bonnie would be a cool friend to have. Her parents would be happy she was making more friends too.

Damon came out of the office with a band-aid on his head that had Iron Man on it. She remembered that he was his favorite superhero. She smiled at him as they walked back to the principal's office, but a lot slower. Elena wondered if Damon was worried about his Dad coming. "Cool band-aid."

"Thanks," Damon said easily, as if he knew it was.

"I like Batman better though." She said, finally getting his full attention. She was a little surprised by it, and felt a little nervous. Her and Damon never hung out without Stefan before.

"Why, cause he's an orphan?" Damon asked, sounding like he didn't approve, "Iron Man is totally smarter and he's _cool_. He has lots of money and girlfriends."

"Batman does too," she argued, "and I like him cause he doesn't ever kill people, no matter what."

Damon had looked pretty bugged, but he didn't say she was stupid or anything like he did to Stefan when he disagreed. Instead he shook his head, and said, "You really are a goodie-two-shoes. I'm surprised you don't like _Superman _or _Captain America_."

She did like them too, a lot, she had just figured that Batman would be cooler and she had wanted to impress Damon after he had saved her and Stefan. Now she was stuck, so she simply raised her chin and replied, "Well I don't. And besides, I know you watched that Superman show, Stefan told me."

"Cause he's part of the Justice League!" Damon half-yelled in his defense. "The comics make more sense if you know _all_ of the stories. It's like watching the Aladdin show without watching Aladdin."

"You like Aladdin?" She asked quickly, surprised. That was one of her favorite movies because Jasmine was so cool and Aladdin was pretty cute.

"Yes," he admitted, "he breaks rules but he's still the good guy."

"Like you!" She said, smiling.

He watched her, then smiled too. "Yeah, I guess."

And before they could say anything else or Elena could ask if he thought she was cool enough to be Jasmine, Mr. Salvatore had caught sight of them from where he was standing at the office entrance. She sure hoped Damon wouldn't get into too much trouble, she thought. Maybe she could tell her Dad to talk to his. After all, he was the good guy.

* * *

**A/N: Please let me know what you think! They won't all be this short or simple or even this age, but I figured this would be a fun start. Please review! :)**


	2. Drinking and Dads

Sixth grade-

Elena rolled her eyes as Stefan was intently reading the new book that Damon had gotten for his birthday two days ago, Frakenstein or something. He seemed to think it was pretty awesome, because even though she had turned the music up— and Stefan usually hated loud music— he hadn't paid any attention to her. She didn't care too much. She hadn't come over to do anything but really get out of the house and away from Jeremy who was driving her insane. As much as Stefan complained about Damon, she understood what it was like to have a little brother.

Since there probably wasn't any chance of Stefan paying attention to her until he finished the book, which wouldn't be that much longer, she decided to go downstairs and look for a snack. Mr. Salvatore was always nice to her and let her eat anything she wanted. The only one who ever complained about it was Damon, and that was only because one time she had eaten the last fruit roll-up with some superhero he liked on the wrapper. He was such a _boy_.

Before she could get all the way down the stairs she heard yelling from Mr. Salvatore and she paused, wondering what was going on. "You don't even _try_ and yet you wonder why I held you back a year! You realize that at your age all of this should be easy? Stefan has no problem keeping his grades up, why do you insist on giving me problems?"

"Are you going to ground me yet, or can I go back up to my room?" Elena heard Damon say, and even though he sounded bored she thought he had to care about his Dad being so rude.

"How_ dare _youtalk to me like that." Mr. Salvatore yelled, and Elena wanted to go back upstairs and pretend this wasn't happening but something in her made her stay and sit down on the wooden steps. Stefan had said that Damon and their Dad didn't get along, but she had never realized it was this bad... "I am your father, you ungrateful brat, and you will listen to me. Do you think I want you becoming such a failure for the entire town to see?"

"You don't give a shit if I fail or not," Damon yelled back, and Elena felt her stomach become uneasy— whether with fear or being upset she wasn't sure—, "you just don't want Principal Fell telling anyone what a waste of space your son is and talking to you like you're not a good father!"

There was a resounding _thud_ as if something glass had hit one of the wooden desks or tables in protest, and Elena heard a few short shuffling noises as if someone was standing up and walking. There was a cold silence, and Elena wondered for a minute whether she should walk down or not and interrupt this for their own good. Then Damon spoke, so very coldly that she barely even recognized his voice, right as she started to get up. "What are you going to do, hit me again? I haven't fought anyone at school lately, so you might not want to bruise me."

Elena thought she might cry, thinking about it. Everyone knew that Damon got into a lot of fights at school and out of it, and so Elena had never thought to question any bruises. Surely Stefan didn't know what was going on, right? That it was this bad? Mr. Salvatore, who she no longer felt any affection for whether he gave her treats or not, did not start yelling. If anything, it sounded like he had sat down on one of the couches. There was another lull of silence. Then, "Go away, boy. I'm tired of looking at you."

She started to get up so she could reach the top of the stairs before Damon, but she still heard him snap back, "Cause I look like Mom and drinking all your disgusting bourbon can't make you forget about her when you still have to look at me. I get it. You're still pathetic."

There was an almost immediate sound of shattering glass as if it had been thrown against something, and Elena couldn't help but run back down the stairs and past the walls of the drawing room, in full view. Neither of them saw her, apparently far too caught up at looking at each other with absolute hatred. Elena had never seen someone look like that in real life, and she realized that it scared her. No one's dad should ever look like that... Mr. Salvatore was standing, only barely in Elena's view, and he snarled at Damon who was still fairly shorter even though he was growing. "Well don't just dance around the subject, son. Be a man and say what you mean. Tell me how you wished she was alive and I were the one dead. Go on!"

Damon's glare wavered, and for a minute she thought he might cry. Instead he just stiffened, snapping. "I'm not going to wish she was alive if she would miss you. You're the one who deserves this."

He moved now, walking away and she saw that he looked up and saw her. Before he could say something she hurried away and back up the stairs, hearing Mr. Salvatore yell at Damon once more. She ran all the way this time, barging back into Stefan's room with such force that he actually looked up from his book. Elena hadn't realized until now that she was crying, but tears were indeed falling down her face and Stefan looked positively alarmed as she shut and locked the door. "What's wrong? What happened? Was Damon an ass or—?"

She felt even worse at the assumption, and Stefan moved forward to hug her. He was good for that at least, but she pulled away after a few seconds and asked, "Stefan, does your dad hit you too? Why haven't you told me any of this?"

He looked like a deer in headlights, and Elena felt even worse. She waited for him to speak, still softly crying, but he only looked away and quietly asked, "What did you see?"

"I heard him and Damon yelling, and Damon told your Dad that he couldn't bruise him because he hadn't fought anybody at school," she answered, "Stefan, what's going on?"

Stefan looked down at his hands, shaking, and Elena saw that there were tears in his eyes. He shook his head, not answering or even daring to look at her. _How could this happen?_ They were best friends. She had known Stefan and Damon even longer than she had known her little brother Jeremy. She put her hand on his shoulder, then pulled him into a hug when he still didn't answer. Finally, after quite a bit, he whispered, "Do you hate me for not telling you?"

"No," she replied as quick as she could, "just tell me what's wrong so I can help."

"You can't, Elena," he said, and he had an edge in her voice that scared her, "promise me if I tell you that you won't tell anyone else."

She looked up at her best friend of eleven and almost-a-half years, thinking that if she were going to make a promise this big to anyone it would be him. Giving a tiny nod, she waited for him to tell her, wondering if Damon would tell Mr. Salvatore that she had heard them and if they would make her stop being friends with Stefan.

"He didn't use to be this bad, usually it was just yelling and Damon and I don't really care about that. Damon didn't tell me anything about it until Dad was super drunk one night and I wouldn't go to bed cause I hadn't finished my history homework. Damon was being a jerk about it and then Dad came around and started yelling but Damon ignored him cause he wanted me to leave first, so Dad hit him. He only told me that it's been happening before then because I felt really guilty," Stefan said, the most miserable look on his face as tears came down. Elena wiped them, even though her own face was wet as well, "but he told me that I couldn't tell because then we'd have to go live with Uncle Zach far away and he knows that Dad wouldn't ever hurt him too bad. Or at least that's what he says."

"Living with your Uncle Zach wouldn't be that bad though," Elena said, trying her best not to care that their uncle lived four hours away, even farther than her family lake house.

Stefan shook his head, then said, "No, but Damon says if we tell Dad might get put into jail. What if after he's out of jail he's really mad at us and then he _really_ hurts Damon?"

Elena hadn't thought about that. She frowned, and they heard knocking on the door. Both of them tensed, and Stefan froze in his spot, hurrying to wipe all of his tears away. Elena did the same, opening the door and feeling only barely relieved to see that it was Damon and not Mr. Salvatore. Still, Damon didn't look happy at all as he glared at her, and Elena noticed with a horrible ache that he had a huge red bump on his forehead.

"What were you doing down there, Elena?" he demanded. Stefan looked hesitant to defend her for the first time ever.

"I was going to get a yogurt when I heard glass breaking," she stammered.

Damon didn't look convinced in the slightest. "Liar."

"She's not going to say anything, Damon, I already made her promise," Stefan snapped at him, "leave her alone."

"What all did you tell her?" He asked, sounding angry as he rounded on his brother.

Elena desperately tried to appear brave at least for Stefan as she grabbed Damon's arm. He jumped back, looking scared for a moment, and then even more angry. She carried on, trying to appear confused and curious. "What more is there to tell? He just said not to talk about tonight..."

Damon glared at her, looking like he wasn't sure if he was about to run or try and scare her. He chose the latter, stepping close to her so she had to look up to see him glare, "I swear, Elena, if you tell _anyone_...,"

"I won't." She answered, "but _you_ should. You could live with your Uncle Zach and—,"

"Uncle Zach listens to everything my father says," Damon snapped back viciously, and even though she wanted to, Elena didn't move, "it would be the same there. No one _likes_ me, Elena, why do you think the teachers haven't noticed anything?"

She raised her chin stubbornly. "I like you and so does Stefan. Stop being so dramatic and do the right thing."

He looked very much like he wanted to hit her. She thought that if she was a boy he probably would have. Stefan stood up, apparently concerned as well, and finally Damon stormed out of the room instead. She felt bad, not wanting to hurt him, just wanting him to get help. She turned to Stefan. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me and talk to my dad?"

"No," he said, shaking his head quickly, looking scared, "but you should go home."

Elena felt herself sink with disappointment. There was no way she was going to ask Mr. Salvatore for a ride now, and if she was keeping something from her parents she didn't really want to see them either. So she smiled, told Stefan she had already asked her mom for a ride, and went downstairs and out the door. It was a very long walk to her house and scary in the dark, but she didn't care that much right now. She got home, thinking that maybe she could slip inside without alarming her parents— she really didn't want to talk to them right now— but it was no use.

"Elena, honey!" her mom said from the kitchen, "how was your day?"

"Fine mom. I'm pretty tired though, I think I'm going to go to bed," she said, trying to head up the stairs before her mom could stop her. Again, no use.

"Wait, wait, what's wrong?" she asked, coming into the living room quickly and looking up the stairs, "no eleven year old actually volunteers to go to bed."

"Eleven and a half," Elena corrected automatically, but her voice was weak and she felt very much on the verge of tears, "and I don't want to talk about it."

_I promised I wouldn't._

Her mom frowned, but looked at the time on her watch and sighed. She looked back up at Elena who was very determinedly staring up at the light on the staircase and willing the tears to go away, before finally saying, "Alright, we'll talk about it tomorrow."

Elena didn't even sigh dramatically like she usually would have, instead bolting up the stairs and running into her room. She very slowly changed into her pj's, trying not think about what had happened that night and consequently only thinking about it more. She laid down in her bed, getting an Ipod to try and drown out the thoughts, but it didn't help. After hours of lying in bed with no sleep Elena thought she might scream, but finally it fell upon her.

Her first nightmare consisted of Damon coming up to her, looking like something out of a horror movie, asking, "Why didn't you help me?". She woke up, heard her Dad's footsteps and realized she must have screamed, and quickly pretended like she was back asleep and calmly breathing. Her Dad walked away, mumbling to himself. It took her awhile to fall back asleep, but she managed. The second nightmare consisted of a funeral, and in the dream she kept trying to figure out who it was and why she felt so sad. Then she saw Mr. Salvatore over the two caskets in handcuffs, and her dream self started sobbing uncontrollably.

Her Dad shook her awake, and she felt tears on her face. _Oh no_, she thought. "Elena, what on earth is wrong? Did you and Stefan watch another scary movie with Damon?"

"No," she answered, starting to cry and holding on to her Dad.

"What's the matter?" her mom said, standing in the doorway and looking half asleep, "does this have something to do with what you wouldn't tell me?"

Elena didn't say anything, trying to make her tears go away as her Dad moved his arms around her in a tight and loving way. She couldn't tell them. She had promised, and what if Stefan didn't ever talk to her again? Still, she did at least nod so they wouldn't think she was being rude.

"Did someone hurt you?" her Dad asked, sounding so terribly concerned.

Shake of the head and more tears.

"Did someone hurt Stefan?"

More tears. Technically, no one had. She shook her head again, hoping that they would consider themselves out of options and give up. Her parents still watched her closely though, and her Dad gave her that knowing look that he would get when he _thought_ she or Jeremy had done something wrong, he just hadn't proved it yet. "Did someone hurt Damon?"

Elena cried, but didn't answer. Her mom quickly came over and sat on the bed, and both of her parents looked petrified. Maybe she was going to get in trouble for not calling the police right away. But then Stefan and Damon would too. She couldn't stop crying, and her throat was starting to hurt. Her Dad stroked her hair and started rocking her. "Calm down, sweetie. It's okay. It's okay, I promise."

She quieted after a few minutes, simply too tired to keep crying and probably out of tears. Her mom looked at her, asking in her serious voice, "Did he make you promise not to tell us?"

"Yes," Elena admitted, finally caving in, "and Stefan too. It's not their fault though, don't get them in trouble."

"Sweetie, listen to me," her Dad said, his hand pulling her chin up gently as he looked down into her eyes, "I promise that you and Stefan and Damon won't get in trouble, okay? But if someone is hurting Damon bad enough that he's making you promise not to tell, he could be in really big danger because the person who's hurting him doesn't think he'll get in trouble. Does that make sense?"

Elena nodded, feeling miserable. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep and know that everyone was safe but for some reason everything was so _complicated. _It wasn't this hard to do the right thing in the movies... "But what if that person gets in trouble and just gets more mad and tries to hurt him even worse?"

"He won't be able to." her Dad said firmly. "No one would let that happen, but they have to _know_ about it first. Okay?"

She gave a silent nod again, wishing that she still didn't have to tell them. It was even hard to say. She opened her mouth, but couldn't find the words and finally just shut it again. Her Dad sighed, and she wondered if he would get mad at her, but all he said was, "I see Damon a lot in my office. He usually tells me that his broken bones are from football or getting fights at school. Is it someone at school doing this? That bully Duke maybe?"

She shook her head, pouting as she said, "No it's their dad."

Neither of her parents look too surprised, although they did look extremely upset. Her mom asked her, "What happened tonight? Is he okay?"

"He has a bump on his forehead," she answered, "it was red. He and his dad were yelling at each other and his dad threw a glass or something but I don't know if that's what hurt him. He told his Dad he couldn't give him a bruise cause he hadn't been getting into fights."

"Alright," her mother said, getting up, "I'm going to make some calls."

"Hold on sweetie," her Dad said, and they both stepped into the hallway for a minute. Elena got up to see if she could hear them when her Dad didn't come right back. She could only make out a little bit of what her mom said, she was a soft speaker.

"— yes, I know. But we told her they'd be okay, and isn't their Uncle—,"

"Miranda. He went into school with a broken _arm_ the other day and pretended he was fine. The school nurse drove him to my office on her lunch break. We just weren't able to prove that anything was wrong because of his record. We need to do it now."

"You're right. I just can't stand it, Grayson. Sophia never would have wanted this. I'm supposed to be their _godmother_ for Christ's sake—,"

"Do what you have to," he said shortly, and then came back to Elena's bedroom.

She had already sat back down, grabbing her teddy and holding it tight. He gave her a big smile, swooping down on her and scooping her up into his arms like she was a little kid again. He held her for a little bit and she let him. He kissed the top of her head, saying, "I am so glad you did the right thing, Elena. I'm sorry that Stefan and Damon's dad couldn't be better for them, but at least they have a good friend like you."

Yeah, a friend they'll hate as soon as mom gets off the phone with Sheriff Fell, she thought, but she didn't say that. It was too late, after all. She just hoped Stefan would forgive her. Instead she asked her Dad, "Why is he so bad to Damon when he was nice to Stefan and me? Damon said it was cause he looked like his mom and she's dead, but why would Mr. Salvatore want to hurt someone that looked like his wife if he loved her enough to marry her?"

Her Dad tensed, and looked very serious like he sometimes did when he watched the news and there was something bad on it like a car accident or an animal attack. "Mr. Salvatore hasn't let himself heal or move on from his wife dying. He's still very, very sad and sometimes people are so bad at feeling sad that they decide to be angry instead. I think Damon just got caught in the middle of his dad not being able to control how sad or angry he was."

"So if Mr. Salvatore decides to heal he won't hurt Damon anymore?" she asked, feeling a little better, "I thought he turned evil or something."

"He's not evil," her Dad said, but there was something about the anger in his tone that didn't make sense if that was true, "but what he is doing _is_ bad and dangerous and illegal. It wasn't right, and even if he does change, he will have to deal with the consequences for the rest of his life. So will Damon."

"Oh," she said, feeling really confused. What was her Dad saying? Wasn't there only good or bad? No in between? "But why does Damon have to deal with it for forever too?"

"Because, sweetie, when someone you trust hurts you that much it leaves scars that take a very long time and a lot of helping people to heal." He said, and Elena felt so bad for Damon that she wanted to hug him or give him some really nice, huge toy. He would be mad at her, though, she knew that. Even if Stefan wasn't.

Her Mom came back in, and her Dad straightened while her mom told him, "Sheriff Fell is going over there right now, just to be safe. Because Zach is out of town they agreed that the boys could stay here for now."

Elena wasn't sure if she felt really happy about that or scared, but she was happy that Stefan wouldn't be moving all the way out of town. At least yet. He still had time to forgive her, then, and maybe Damon would too.

* * *

From the time that Sheriff Fell rang their doorbell in the middle of the night to the time that one of the deputies drove them over to the Gilbert house, Damon didn't speak. He couldn't ever remember being this angry at anyone but his Dad. Stefan was at least smart enough not to start asking him a million different questions. Stupid Elena Gilbert. Her big mouth was going to ruin everything for them. It's not like he had even been _that_ hurt ever. Her Dad knew about his broken arm though, he remembered. Mr. Gilbert had looked pretty mad about that when all Damon would say was that he must have broken it crashing his bike or something, but it didn't hurt that bad anyway. It wasn't _really _his Dad's fault, the stupid guy was just drunk all the time and Damon was the one who kept pissing him off because of grades and behavior. Now his dad would probably go to jail...

Mr. Gilbert took Damon upstairs while Mrs. Gilbert talked to Stefan in the living room. _Great_, Damon thought, he's probably going to yell at me for lying about my arm. He took him in an empty room and sat on the bed, patting a spot where Damon could sit down. Damon decided to stand instead. Mr. Gilbert sort of smiled. "I'm sure you're really mad at Mrs. Gilbert, Elena, and I. That's okay, Damon. I'm not going to make you talk about anything right now."

Well that was weird, he thought. Mr. Gilbert didn't care if Damon was pissed at his _precious_ little daughter? Stefan had told him that Elena hardly ever got in trouble, he had assumed she was just spoiled. "Okay."

"First things first, would you rather stay with your Uncle Zach or here? We need to sort that out for the Sheriff. Mrs. Gilbert is your and Stefan's godmother, so you can, we just need to know."

Damon debated this. He didn't like Uncle Zach, he was just as rude as his Dad was to Damon but he didn't have any excuses for it. Plus they would still be close to school here, and Stefan cared about that. He looked at the ground, muttering, "Here."

"Okay," Mr. Gilbert said, a sort of smile on his face, "now the deputies already talked to you, and Sheriff Fell took your Dad to the station so let me tell you what might happen now. They'll keep him in the jail or he can pay money to go back home, and he'll have a court date really soon. The judge will decide if he's guilty based on what Elena saw, what I've seen, and whatever you and Stefan say. From there he could go to jail."

"I won't say anything," Damon snapped, unable to stop himself, "I'm not sending him to jail. I don't care how it looks."

"Damon," Mr. Gilbert said with a sad sigh, "what he did to you and how he made you feel is not acceptable. You had broken bones. What if one of those times he was too drunk and he pushed you and you hit the floor too hard with your head? You could die and so could Stefan."

"He wouldn't hurt Stefan."

"Do you really think Stefan would tell you if your Dad did?" Mr. Gilbert asked, and Damon felt his confidence waver.

No, probably not, but, "I always make sure Stefan is gone when he's drunk and then I piss him off so he only hits me. I've never been gone when he's drunk, so it has to only be me. It's my fault I look like mom anyway."

Mr. Gilbert looked both shocked and sad and Damon realized he had said way too much, and tried to backpedal. "I mean so he _would_ have only hit me, but he doesn't."

It didn't work. Mr. Gilbert only gave him a patronizing look, and patted the spot beside him once more. This time there wasn't any politeness about it. Damon gave a groan and sat down beside him. No wonder Elena was so stubborn... "None of this is your fault, Damon. I know you're not going to believe me right now after all this time, but at least try. It's not your fault for pissing him off. A dad shouldn't hit their children like this no matter _how_ mad he is, and he shouldn't be getting drunk around them either. Your Dad knew he the consequences of his actions when he did it. It sucks, but it's better than getting hurt all the time and being in danger. Got it?"

"But if we have to move in with Uncle Zach it'll be the same, he doesn't like me either and then Stefan will have to go to a new school and he's too shy to make friends," Damon said, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he thought to stop them. This was becoming a bad habit.

"You're a good brother," Mr. Gilbert said with a sigh, ruffling Damon's hair. Damon barely stopped himself from hitting away the hand, "but no one will make you go live with your uncle if you don't want to. You both can stay here as long as you promise not to be mean to Elena or her brother, alright? And Mrs. Gilbert and I will probably tell you and Stefan to do things just like we do Elena and Jeremy, so you will have to listen."

Damon nodded. It would be annoying to live in the same house as a fifth grader, but he'd have to deal with it. It wasn't any worse than living with Benedict Elena, after all.

"Alright. This is your and Stefan's room for now, but I think he decided to sleep on the floor in Elena's room. Go ahead and try to sleep, we can figure more out in the morning."

Mr. Gilbert stood up, and so Damon obediently drew back the covers and laid down. He turned off the light and left, while Damon found he could do almost anything but sleep. All he could do was think. Think about his Dad and if he was pissed, think about jail, think about how he was still mad at Elena even if her dad wasn't that bad and they wouldn't have to go live with Zach... and then he fell asleep, dreaming about Elena saving him from bullies while he stood there angry that he didn't do it himself.

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**A/N: I know this is a little dark, but it will get better. Damon shows a lot of symptoms and behaviours that are typical of child abuse survivors, so I figured that in a modern human universe it would make sense.**

**Please review :)**


	3. Cereal and Courtrooms

**A/N: So I've been really bad about having too much fun with this story and writing all over instead of continuosly, as well as neglecting my other fanfiction, so know that a lot of it is actually written, I just have to work on the middle stuff, haha. Also, I ****_did_**** look up Virginia law for this, so please don't yell at me.**

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Cereal and Courtrooms

It was more than weird to wake up in the morning and go to breakfast only to find Damon Salvatore at the kitchen table talking football with her Dad, Elena thought, even after three weeks. Stefan had slept over enough times that she was used to him, but Damon? That would take a long time to get used to. Not that he really got in her way or ever spoke to her. He still hadn't forgiven her for telling her parents about his Dad, and Elena wondered what they would say at the hearing today. She wished she could go, if only to know whether or not to just stay at Bonnie's for the rest of her life because the judge decided to send Mr. Salvatore to jail and Damon was going to murder her before his dad could.

She sat down at the table, her dad watching the news and her mom cooking something while Damon ate cinnamon Life cereal. Damon's expression changed into an angry one as she sat down across from him, but he didn't look up at her. She stopped herself from sticking her tongue at him, but only barely. Stefan had forgiven her and said she had done the right thing, why couldn't Damon? He was so _annoying _and _stubborn._

"Do you want some pancakes, Elena?" her mom asked. Elena felt a little cautious trusting her mom's cooking and glanced at her Dad who gave her a secretive wink. That wasn't a good sign.

"Uh, no thank you. I just wanted some fruit loops," she replied, giving her mom an apologetic smile as she got up and got the cereal from the cupboard.

Her mom turned and glared. "Grayson, are you telling them I can't cook again?"

"I didn't tell anything to Elena," her Dad responded with a grin, giving a funny look to Elena and Damon. Elena giggled. "Then again, I think she knows after eleven years, dear. You don't have to put on a show anymore, it's been three weeks."

Her mom sighed, not looking too mad as she turned off the burner of the stove and threw her spatula down. "Well _Stefan and Damon_ said they liked it."

"No offense, Mrs. Gilbert," Damon started, still keeping his eyes on his cereal, "but we were just lying because you were nice enough to cook for us."

Elena's dad burst out laughing and her mom smiled a little wryly. "That's fine, thank you for being polite at least. Mr. Gilbert could learn a thing or two from you."

Damon mischievously smiled as he gave a glance to the older man who was rolling his eyes for dramatic effect. Elena couldn't help but think, just for a minute, how much happier Damon looked with her family. It wasn't fair that everything had turned out so horrible for him. She kind of wished he could stay all the time, just so he could be happy. Damon looked past Elena, nodding, and she turned around to see Stefan and Jeremy finally coming down the stairs.

"There are pancakes on the stove, dudes." Her dad announced.

"Sweet! Are they the ones you make with the apples and cinnamon?" Jeremy asked, rushing over to the stove excitedly, then stopping short as he saw the stack of slightly burnt pancakes, said, "Oh, mom's still cooking."

Her mom had sat down on the right of her dad, who was chuckling, and rolled her eyes now. "Yeah, yeah. Just get some cereal and eat before the bus comes."

"The hearing is today, right?" Stefan asked her parents, still standing instead of going to get food. Elena could tell he was nervous, and from his red eyes he probably hadn't slept at all either.

"Yes it is. I took off today so I can take you guys, unless you want someone prettier, in which case I'm sure Mrs. Gilbert would be willing to take you," her Dad answered, giving a smile to his wife and then looking back at Stefan.

"No, that's fine. Does Elena get to come?" Stefan asked, and Elena quickly turned to her mom and Dad to see if Stefan and his pleading face would work on them, but before her Dad or Mom could even answer, Damon had spat, "No."

Her Dad looked at Damon, a reluctant expression as he turned back to Stefan. _Dang it, Damon,_ Elena thought, can't you see he wants me there? But her Dad was already telling Stefan, "No, sorry. As soon as the hearing is over I can pick her up from school and drop you both off at home though."

Stefan brightened at the thought, and Elena was practically ready to jump for joy. Damon looked pretty annoyed though, as did Jeremy who said, "Hey! Everyone gets to miss school but me!"

"It's okay, Jeremy," Damon said, looking up at Elena's dad, "you can come with me and we'll go play baseball at the park. Right, Mr. Gilbert?"

Ugh. He was totally doing that just so he wouldn't have to spend any time with her. Elena's mom smiled though, and her Dad nodded with a grin. "Sure thing. I'll even come with you, unless you don't want an old guy cramping your style."

"No, that'd be cool," Damon said lightly, looking back down at his cereal. Elena only now noticed that there really wasn't anything gone from the bowl. He must be nervous too. "I mean you_ are_ pretty old, but that means you might know a few good moves that I don't."

Her Dad laughed, looking pretty pleased that Damon hadn't said no. The first few week he had been here he hadn't said a word to anyone but Jeremy. It wasn't like he even liked Jeremy that much, since Jeremy was so much younger than him, just that Jeremy was the only one who obviously didn't have any part in getting his Dad in trouble. He sure carried grudges, she thought, and definitely against the wrong people.

* * *

Damon sat on the hard seat of the big courtroom, trying not to let Stefan or Mr. Gilbert know that he was sort of, kind of shaking and that he was pretty much, almost extremely nervous at seeing his dad for the first time. He wondered if his dad would be mad, then thought he was an idiot for wondering that. _Of course_ he would be mad. He wasn't Mr. Gilbert, and even then it was Damon's fault that his dad had gone to jail and was going to have this on his record no matter what.

Looking over at Stefan, he saw that his little brother was pretty pale and looked like he might throw up. That wouldn't be good. They had argued with Mr. Gilbert for six whole days about wanting to be here, and now that they were Damon thought that Elena's dad had probably been right about it being too much for them. Too late now, though. The judge came in and sat down and Damon thought for a minute how it was kind of like TV, but then he heard someone come in and not thinking, looked around to see his dad.

He wasn't dressed in orange like on tv, though. Mr. Gilbert and the social workers had told him that his dad wouldn't go to jail just yet when they hadn't proved anything. Damon felt a little bad for Stefan, at least, that their Dad hadn't tried to get a hold of them. Even now, the older man determinedly focused his eyes at the judge and then sat down on the seat across from them. Damon wasn't sure if his dad was trying to show the judge that he was respectful of their boundaries or if he really just didn't want anything to do with them anymore. Then again, he thought as he looked to his left at an irritated looking Mr. Gilbert, maybe it was more that he had been threatened...

The court officer read off the proceedings as someone started writing, and the judge spoke once he was done. "Let's make this short, shall we?"

Damon was glad for that at least. He had never been good at being patient.

"I have gone over all the information given to me by the police and the social workers and have found that most of the information cannot be used in this trial due to the ruling of Christian v. Commonwealth, where one must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was the only person who could have injured the child."

Mr. Gilbert tensed considerably beside him, but Damon was busy trying to figure out what the judge was getting at.

"Due to this, the only occurrence of child abuse that withstands trial is the instance witnessed by Elena Gilbert. As such, it is my ruling that the sentence of Giuseppe Salvatore be the following: release of custodial rights for six months as he has volunteered to do and rehabilitation through child protection services for the duration of these six months. Once these steps are completed custodial rights will be restored to Giuseppe Salvatore and child protection services may take any further steps that they see fit."

He banged the weird judge hammer thing, and then Mr. Gilbert motioned them to stand up and they walked out the door without a word to their father. Stefan seemed concerned, asking, "So does that mean they aren't sending him to jail?"

"Yes," Mr. Gilbert replied shortly.

Damon knew he wasn't happy with it, but he himself thought it would be okay. They wouldn't have to live with the Gilbert's forever and maybe, after all the counseling that his dad would have to do, they could go back to being a good family. Still... "But we have to stay with you guys till the end of the school year?"

"Yes," Mr. Gilbert replied once more, although this time his tone was softer. It seemed that he realized who he was talking to and how they felt about it, "sorry you didn't get someone more fun."

"Nah, we like you." Stefan said, looking rather happy.

"No one else in this town is fun anyway," Damon added, feeling pretty content too. There wasn't even that much snow outside and the sun felt warmer now that he knew his dad wasn't going to jail. Which probably didn't make much sense. He knew he was supposed to want his dad locked away. Everyone else seemed to, even Stefan had appeared to be very split on the issue. Damon just... couldn't. He knew that his dad hadn't been that bad when he was sober, knew that when his mom had been alive he had been a completely different person entirely. Why would he want his dad to go to jail when it wasn't his dad's fault he was so messed up?

"Well then I'm glad to at least win by default," Mr. Gilbert smiled as they all got into the car, "Do you still want to pick up Elena and Jeremy?"

"Yes," Stefan said immediately.

Damon felt a little annoyed at himself as he mumbled yes too. He didn't want to go to the park and play baseball with a little kid anymore, he wanted to be able to go be alone in his room. Mr. Gilbert seemed to be able to tell though, because he looked over at Damon from the passenger seat and asked, "Are you sure? I can take Jeremy by myself. He'll understand if you don't want to. I'll just drop you off at the house first."

"Okay," Damon agreed, feeling relieved.

They drove in relative silence, the only thing that really made any noise was the blowing heater. It looked like Stefan was just as lost in thought as he was, although Stefan was the kind of person who needed to talk about things like this. That was at least one good reason he and Elena were good friends, they both talked all the time. Damon didn't quite understand it, but then again he didn't have any friends to talk to anyway and he sure as hell wasn't going to talk to those annoying social workers.

Once he was dropped off at the Gilbert house he went straight up to "his" room. It looked a lot more lived in now, with his and Stefan's stuff thrown everywhere, but it still was kind of girly with a white bedspread and yellow wallpaper. He missed his dark room with his Xbox and gaming chair. Jeremy's just wasn't the same, and he didn't even have all of the good games. Not to mention it was downstairs in the living room, so he couldn't even play without being supervised and having to watch his language.

He flopped onto the bed, facing the ceiling. It was boring and white with a regular metal ceiling fan, and the heated air came down on him from one of the vents. For a minute, he was able to just focus on his surroundings. The bed was soft and big enough to fit Stefan and Damon, although Damon had told Stefan he'd better sleep in Elena's room cause he was tired of being kicked at night. Stefan had agreed, but argued that he only kicked Damon because the older brother kept stealing the blankets. Either way, Damon usually had the room to himself. Stefan and Elena had become even more attached to the hip which he hadn't thought was possible. They were so weird.

That was all he could manage before he remembered that he was mad at Elena. Maybe he could be nice now that his dad wasn't going to jail. Her parents would be happy about it, and if Damon was going to stay here six months he might as well win over favors with them. Then again he wasn't sure if he cared that much. It was just six months and Elena was annoying and _eleven_. He was going to be fourteen in only seven weeks. At least Stefan was at least twelve, but then again he wasn't any less annoying than the other kids.

He heard the door open and Stefan and Elena talked all the way from the living room and then up to their semi-shared bedroom. Groaning, despite himself, he got off the bed and went through the bathroom to get to them. They were sitting down when he entered, wide eyed at seeing him voluntarily be in the same breathing space, and he sort of tensed. "Can I talk to you, Elena?"

She bit her lip, but still nodded and followed him back into his room. He shut the door so Stefan wouldn't really be able to hear. She looked even more concerned. He tried not to roll his eyes, but didn't succeed. "I'm not going to beat you up or something."

She made a face at him, telling him that wasn't what she was thinking, but she still visibly relaxed now that his first words weren't some insult. "Whatever, Damon. That's good about your dad, that he won't go to jail. Stefan told me. I never wanted him to."

Damon nodded, looking away for a moment, and then asked, "So why did you tell?"

"I kept having nightmares about you getting really hurt," she answered, shuffling her feet and then looking up at him with sad brown eyes, "I even had one that you died."

He noticed that she hadn't said "you and Stefan", which for some reason made him a little bit happier. People were always lumping him together with his younger brother. "So? I'm not that nice, I don't know why you cared about me."

She looked completely confused, saying, "Why wouldn't I? You saved me from Duke when he was bullying me and Stefan. You still kicked Tyler Lockwood when I was in fifth grade for trying to kiss me and I told him to go away. You're a good person to me."

"I'm not always good to other people though, you know that." He said, feeling weird and sort of awkward.

Elena didn't seem too worried about that though, she simply grinned and said, "Well my dad says that no one is perfect. He thinks you're a really brave person too for protecting Stefan all this time. It's okay though, I know you just want to look cool while you're secretly good like Iron Man."

Damon sort of smirked at that, remembering their conversation from a few years ago. Even though he wasn't really into superheros like he had been back then, he still liked the movies and comics. Maybe it was for a reason. "Yeah, I guess."

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**A/N: Next up, Christmas! I'll probably do a few passing moments in the next chapter, like Damon's birthday, until the sixth months are up.**

**As always, let me know what you think! :)**


	4. Presents and Parents

**A/N: You know the saying life gets in the way? Well I promise I'm not just making excuses. In the hiatus of this fic I was diagnosed with Thyroid disease and broke up with my boyfriend of 4 1/2 years, so I PROMISE THAT AFTER ALL THAT I WILL UPDATE BETTER NOW. **

**Anyway, I did get a question about how old everyone is in a previous review and the answer is that it will change depending on the scene, but for reference Damon was born in January of 91, Stefan November of 92, and Elena June of 93. So Stefan and Elena are in the same grade thanks to deadlines and Damon is a only a grade above them due to being held back. Savvy?**

**Without further ado, here is your very late promised chapter.**

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Elena was more than happy to spend Christmas with Stefan and even Damon. When her parents woke all of them up and made them wait on the stairs as she took pictures, it was only a few seconds before Mr. Gilbert told them they could come down and her and Jeremy rushed down the stairs. Stefan and Damon were a little slower, but then they turned the corner and saw that they had a huge pile of presents too and ran over as well. Elena was ecstatic when her mom didn't even make them wait, simply snapping pictures. Elena's aunt Jenna, who had been sleeping on the couch, groaned at the noise but quickly woke up and joined in on the party.

Elena made Stefan open up her present to him second, since he had already opened his first one that had a really cool book on old cars that she'd helped her Dad pick out, and she saw him grin as he opened the not-so-well wrapped package to find another book. It had taken a little bit to find, but she had gotten him the book Dracula, and she was happy that he looked like he loved it. Damon glanced over, his eyes narrowing at the book and said, "Good. That's not the one I got."

Stefan said thank you to her before going back to his presents, and instead of opening more of hers she turned to Damon. She had never been super excited about getting presents, although it was fun, instead she loved giving them almost ten times more. "Did you open the one I gave you yet?"

He shook his head, searching through his presents until he found the one she had wrapped in black paper. His eyebrows furrowed when he tore off the wrapping to find what must have looked like a small lame binder to him, but he didn't glance at her before opening the cover. Elena's stomach clenched with anxiety. What if he didn't like it? Or was mad at her? It had taken a long time to put together and she had to ask a ton of people for help... She stopped thinking as soon as he looked up at her, his face making a weird sort of expression. "How did you get all these pictures?"

Stefan was watching them now, his eyes narrowing as he tried to see what Damon was holding. Elena tried to hold back tears. He must not like it. "From my mom and other people in town."

"Oh," he said simply, turning back to the book and flipping more pages. Stefan dropped his newly opened Bon Jovi CD (he listened to really weird music ever since he met this new girl at school named Lexi that had just moved to town, although Elena's Dad had thought it was cool) and shuffled closer to Damon. They both started looking at the scrapbook that Elena had filled with pictures of their mom from town events and some that Elena's mom had taken of the family.

Stefan looked up at Elena when Damon reached the end of the book. He was sort of smiling, but still seemed a bit sad, and she thought he was going to say something before he got up and hugged her instead. She smiled into his shoulder, glad that he liked it even if it wasn't _exactly_ for him. When Stefan pulled back Damon was waiting. He didn't look like he was going to hug her, but he said, "Thank you, Elena."

She could tell he was serious from his tone, and somehow that meant more than even getting a hug. Elena grinned as she nodded, forcing herself to go back to opening her own presents before she weirded him out. She was especially happy when she found that Damon had actually given her a present— a big huge Princess Jasmine poster. He smiled, shrugging as he told her, "You said you like her and you're more like her than the other ones."

"I'm not rich," Elena said in return.

Damon rolled his eyes. "You have stuff that I don't. Besides, you stick up for people."

Elena grinned. Maybe Damon wasn't so annoying after all.

* * *

New Years went and passed at the Gilbert house with a lot of noise and fireworks and sparkling cider. Then Damon's birthday passed and for the first time he didn't have his Dad to throw him a wad of cash. He told Elena's parents that he didn't want a birthday party because he never had one anyway. Damon really didn't see the point of celebrating thirteen, it wasn't like he got to drive and becoming a teenager didn't seem like it was going to be as awesome as people said it was. Not to mention he never felt like having a cool birthday when only a week later he'd be going to his mom's grave for the anniversary of her death.

The Gilbert's still made him cake and got him presents, though. He was sort of happy that Elena didn't try to make another really personal gift because opening the last one in front of everyone had been hard enough. She ended up just getting him a Linkin Park CD, which wasn't that bad. Jeremy got him another awesome shooting game for the Xbox that Mrs. Gilbert glared at her husband for and Stefan got him The Call of the Wild by Jack London. Elena's parents gave him some money to pick out whatever he wanted, and he made sure to say that he wanted to go with Mr. Grayson, knowing he'd be able to pick out something more cool.

The day of his mother's death ended up being on a Sunday. He woke up at four thirty am to an alarm set by Stefan and groaned as he hit Stefan over the head with his pillow. His brother shuffled, making the bed move more and more to where Damon was barely comfortable anymore _anyway_, and then asked, "Damon, do you really want to go? What if Dad's there?"

Damon rolled out of the bed and glared at Stefan even though his brother wouldn't see him through the darkness. "He won't be there this early. Come on, your stupid alarm probably woke someone up."

But it hadn't, and after both quickly and quietly dressing both Stefan and Damon were able to successfully sneak out of the house and start walking to the cemetery in the very cold early morning February air. Stefan walked beside him, looking cold but determined. Damon didn't count on this lasting very long, and sure enough after twenty minutes of walking Stefan asked, "Why couldn't we just have someone take us?"

Damon rounded on his brother a little angrily. He wasn't exactly a morning person and it was sort of freezing this early in the morning when there weren't even people driving around town. "Because we can do that any other time. You can go home if you want, I told you that you didn't have to come. It's my tradition anyway."

"Sorry," Stefan muttered under his breath.

They walked in silence for another fifteen minutes until they reached Mystic Falls cemetery. It was a farther walk from the Gilbert house than it was from Damon's, but it was still worth it in Damon's mind. Every year since he was nine he walked to his mother's grave to share the sunrise with her. Stefan had caught him doing it last year but Damon had told him he was too young to come. His brother had begged him over and over to go this year, and Damon had only finally agreed last night under the condition that Stefan would only ever be allowed to go once because this was _Damon's_ thing. That might be a little rude, but it wasn't like Stefan really remembered her anyway. He just knew something was missing. Damon however...

He sighed once they found the grave and sat down on the dewy grass. Stefan looked at the grave with a slightly sad face, then back up to Damon. "Now what?"

"We watch the sunrise," Damon snapped, "and be quiet."

If Stefan wasn't here, he'd have spent this time talking. He'd pretend his mom was here and tell her everything that was going on even though he knew damn well she wasn't anymore here than he was there. He'd tell her about Dad being caught and about how he hoped that they'd be able to be a better family when all this was over, he'd tell her that he was scared that Dad would hate him after this no matter what the social workers said. She'd reassure him with some light breeze of air. He'd tell her that he loved seeing her in all the pictures Elena had put in that scrapbook and he'd pretend that she would tease him about Elena because parents were supposed to tease their kids about girls. He would tell her that sometimes he sort of wished he had more friends and she would remind him that he could have friends and that maybe he shouldn't have tried to beat up Mason Lockwood for liking Ford and not Chevy. Then he would argue that it was Mason's fault anyway and that Mason had already gotten him back.

Instead of all that, though, he sat with Stefan and looked at the sky through the trees. Stefan glanced him after a few more minutes and asked, "Why do you think Elena gets to have good parents and we don't?"

"I don't know," Damon said automatically in return, feeling uncomfortable. What was he supposed to say? He was the older brother, he had to say _something_ good. He wondered what his mom would say before telling Stefan, "I guess life isn't fair. It'll get better though."

"It hasn't yet."

Damon turned around to see Stefan looking down at the ground, the sun almost all the way up now and spilling over his brother's doomed looking expression. That was the thing about Stefan, though, sometimes he could be the most optimistic person in the town and other times he was the complete opposite. There was no in-between. Damon sighed, as if to give in, but then changed directions and shook his head. "No, Stefan, it's not all better yet. But it will be, okay? And everything isn't all bad right now. You get to share a house with your best friend and we don't have to lie about anything and summer is almost here."

"Yeah," Stefan said, slightly more cheerful. Apparently if Damon could muster up some encouragement than things weren't too horrible, at least in his brother's eyes. "I guess I just get a little jealous sometimes."

"I know," Damon said simply, then grinning as he added, "it's okay that you're not as good looking as me."

"Whatever, Damon," Stefan snapped back, rolling his eyes.

It was faint, but Damon still felt the same breeze that reminded him of his mother when he was here, and it made him happy. Stefan was smiling too, and really— what else did Damon need? He may not have the best family ever, but it was good enough. "I don't want Elena's family anyway. You're a cooler brother than Jeremy."

"Really?" His brother was looking up at him with wide eyes. "Even though I don't like Xbox?"

"Yeah," Damon nodded, "it's cooler that you don't like it just because I do. Not that you could beat me anyway."

"Sweet," Stefan said with a grin, then looking back up at the sky. Damon joined him.

February passed by quickly after that, the only notable thing worth mentioning being that Stefan and Elena fought on Valentine's Day because Stefan got some girl named Lexi a bigger Valentine's day card. Damon thought that was pretty hilarious, especially because his brother had no idea what the problem was since Elena didn't even have a crush on him. Elena retaliated by going to the store after school with her mom Miranda and coming home with a huge Valentine's Day bear for Damon, who couldn't stop laughing as soon as she handed it to him. That, however, only ended up with both Elena and Stefan not talking to him. At least Jeremy thought it was funny...

March was boring, as well as April, and they went by a lot quicker than Damon would ever have wanted them to before. Usually he loved the freedom of summer, but now— well, he wasn't sure what going back to his father would bring. Stefan seemed more anxious too, and had been spending more time with Damon after school than he had Elena. Elena had seemed hurt at first, but finally started going over to Bonnie Bennett's house more instead. By the time May rolled around Damon thought he was going to explode from all the pressure. He kept begging that the days would go by slower and for some reason that only made it go faster— which was really annoying cause when he had wanted them to go faster before they never had.

Finally, the night before he and Stefan went back to their Dad had arrived, and both of the brothers were grudgingly packing all their stuff before they went to bed. The social workers had reassured them that they would be fine, and they had met with their father a few times before now and he had _seemed_ like he wouldn't murder them as soon as he could, but Damon was still nervous. Stefan was acting just as tense, until Elena knocked on the door and came in the room. Damon paused packing to see that her brown eyes were really big like she was about to cry. Stefan looked at the ground, a sure sign that he might too. _Oh brother._

"I know you have to and stuff," Elena sniffled, "but I don't want you to go."

"Stefan will be fine, Elena, you can come over and he'll visit you and it'll just go back to how it was. It's not the end of the world." Damon reassured her, really hoping that the two of them wouldn't cry. Jeremy had already done enough of that at dinner. Apparently anyone under the age of thirteen couldn't keep it together.

"But _you_ won't visit!" Elena told him, and tears had started falling down her face now.

_Great._ What was he supposed to say to that? He didn't dislike Elena anymore but he still wasn't about to go out of his way just to spend time with her. She was a girl, not to mention Stefan's best friend. "You'll still see me when you come over to see Stefan."

She pouted.

Damon sighed.

Then, after about a full thirty seconds of staring at him with such a sad face, Elena rushed forward and hugged him tight. Damon rolled his eyes, but still put his arms around her. It wasn't that bad, hugging her, he guessed. He still wished she wasn't getting his shirt wet with her tears. Still, he was sort of, kind of touched that she actually would miss him that much.

That morning both Damon and Stefan were wide awake even before their alarm went off. They had stayed up most of the night talking, unable to sleep due to nerves. When the beeping started, Stefan quickly tuned it off and got out of bed, slowly getting dressed. Damon followed, after a long moment, looking around the room that was still painted that girly yellow color. He tried to picture his own bedroom, which looked nothing like this, and sighed. It would be nice to have his own bed again, at least. When he was finally dressed he walked downstairs to get breakfast, seeing that both Grayson and Miranda were also wide awake, and Grayson was making them pancakes. It was weird to think that he'd have to start calling him Mr. Gilbert again...

Miranda watched Damon as he sat down to eat his filled plate, and then Stefan as well. It looked like she wanted to say something or at least tell them everything would be fine, but she didn't. Maybe she didn't think it would help, or maybe she just couldn't say it without crying either. Damon really wished he had the appetite to eat these pancakes...

Elena came downstairs only a few minutes later, looking extremely awake. Grayson gave her some pancakes as well, and she ate the first two quickly before she frowned at Damon. "You better come to my birthday party."

"Sweetie—," Miranda interrupted.

"Fine," Damon said, rolling his eyes at the girl, "what do you want?"

Elena grinned, and it looked like both her parents were happy about it too. It took a moment, but finally Elena answered, "A pair of earrings."

"Who said we were going to let you get them pierced?" Grayson asked immediately, to which Elena started a very in depth argument. Miranda was smiling at them, and Stefan did input some encouragement for Elena when she asked, but it didn't look like a winning battle.

Damon couldn't really focus on it, and it was only a few moments after that before they heard a shockingly loud yell of, "ARE THEY GONE? WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP?"

Jeremy stormed down the stairs hurriedly, looking relieved as he still saw Damon and Stefan sitting at the kitchen table. Damon smiled. "What, ready to be the only guy in the house again?"

"No," Jeremy said truthfully before sitting down, "but at least I can play you without having to share my Xbox."

He was going to respond until he heard a knock on the door. Immediately he looked at Stefan, who was watching him with wide eyes, and Grayson gave a heavy sigh before standing up and walking out of the kitchen and to the door. Elena frowned, getting up with Damon and Stefan as they slowly left the table and followed them down the hall.

Seeing their dad, no matter how long he had lived with him vs. the Gilbert's, felt a little weird now. "Hello, boys. Are you ready?"

"Hold on!" Damon whipped around to see that Elena was looking very stern and brave all of the sudden, and she quickly continued before her dad could stop her— "will you still let me come over? 'Cause Stefan and I are best friends and you have to let me see him even if you hate me."

With much shock and dread, Damon turned to see what his dad was going to say in return. The man only smiled, shaking his head, and looking weirdly genuine. "I don't hate you, Miss Elena. You did the right thing. I was a broken man who made a lot of mistakes just because I was sad and I owe you everything for getting our family help. Thank you."

Elena sort of smiled, looking unsure still, but then Damon's father dad did something even more sincere and turned to Mr. Gilbert and gave the same, "thank you", this time with tears in his eyes. Damon hadn't seen his father actually cry since his mother's death, when the pain was still very fresh. And suddenly, the door still open, Damon felt a breeze of warm summer air. He couldn't help it, even as Stefan stared at him with disbelief, and so he let himself smile.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you like it! The next chapter is already written so it won't take nearly as long to update! Get ready for Damon and Elena talking about puberty XD**


	5. Making Out and Menstrual Cycles

**A/N: I was going to wait a little longer to post this but I had such fun writing it that I just had to share. I only briefly touch on Stefan and Damon's new relationship with their father, but I promise I will go into it further once I am done having fun with the adorable, awkward, angsty teenager moments.**

* * *

"But Elena you have to come," Stefan begged her as they sat in the living room of his house. It was July and school was out for the summer and all Stefan wanted to do was go to this stupid party and get out of this house and away from Damon who had been extremely annoying so far. Maybe it was because Damon was fifteen and starting high school while Stefan was still in middle school, or maybe it was just because he was _Damon_.

Elena was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed, looking extremely stubborn. It had taken almost a year to convince her to come over to his house again after everything that had happened in sixth grade, but now that it was summer and Stefan's dad was never home during the day she had gotten used to it. Stefan whined. "Tyler said I have to bring a girl if I go and Lexi is on vacation."

"It's just a stupid party. Tyler won't really make you go home without a girl," Elena defended, making a weird face. Stefan sort of doubted that, knowing Tyler though.

"It's Tyler's birthday!" he replied, wondering why on earth she didn't want to go, "we can't just ditch it! You love the swimming hole!"

She shook her head, replying, "I'm not going, Stefan."

Stefan gave a large groan, wondering who on earth he was going to have to ask now. He _hated_ asking girls out to things, he always got way too nervous and then Damon made fun of him. Maybe he could ask Bonnie, she wouldn't be that bad. "Well at least tell me _why_ you won't go."

"I just can't," she said, her face turning red. He immediately became suspicious.

"_Why?_" he demanded, "are you embarrassed or something?"

"No," she spat, but he could tell that she was lying. They had grown up together, even lived together for a few months at one point, and she wasn't very good at it to begin with. Not like Damon.

"Do you have a crush on someone that's going?" he asked. Maybe she liked Matt and wasn't telling him. Or Tyler, maybe, but that would be really weird.

She turned even more red. "No! Just forget about it, Stefan."

This only made Stefan that much more curious, and he quickly threatened her with tickling. She paled and moved away in a serious way, not one that was playful like usual. "Are you sick or something?"

"Will you guys shut up?" Damon called, as he came out from the hallway for his daily snack break. Usually Damon spent the summer playing video games like Call of Duty online with Jeremy and some other guys, but every now and then he emerged from his cave. While their dad had been a lot nicer to Damon the past year, he had started yelling every now and then at Damon for being anti-social. Stefan's brother had responded by bringing some girl named Rose over and making out with her in the living room when he knew their dad would be home soon. It hadn't exactly gone over well, but there was no violence yet so Stefan found it more funny than he did annoying. Either way, Damon could be obnoxious.

"She's not going to Tyler's birthday party!" Stefan defended when Damon glared at them as he walked past.

Damon gave a confused glance to Elena, but only snapped back, "Well maybe she just doesn't want to see you without a shirt on."

Stefan glared, easily retorting, "Says the guy who's so pale he looks like a vampire. At least I step outside."

"Well vampires get all the chicks, so..." he trailed off, with a smirk. Turning to Elena before going to the kitchen, he asked, "Why don't you want to go? I thought parties were your thing."

"I can't swim," she said seriously, giving Damon a sort of look that made Stefan think he was missing out on something. Why would Damon understand and not him?

His older brother did seem to understand though, and started laughing. Elena blushed even more, but only looked really annoyed now and not just embarrassed. Stefan felt irritated at being left out, and said, "What do you mean you can't swim? You've been swimming all your life!"

"She can't swim 'cause her aunt Flo is in town," Damon said before Elena could argue with Stefan once more, "you know, John Gilbert's new girlfriend?"

"What?" Stefan asked, only more confused and he saw that Elena was giving Damon one of the nastiest looks she had ever given him.

Damon shook his head, still laughing. "Honestly, she just promised she would hang out with me that day already and she didn't want to make you mad."

Stefan looked at Elena, who was looking at Damon with surprise. "Why didn't you just _tell_ me that?"

"Cause you two fight all the time," she answered, a guilty expression coming across her face. "I think you can probably still ask Amber, she really really likes you. Sorry."

"It's fine," Stefan sighed, thinking she totally owed him. He didn't know why she wanted to hang out with Damon on Tyler's birthday, though. Maybe Tyler had made her mad or something, he could be rude sometimes. Or maybe she was embarrassed about swimming in front of everyone in her swimsuit. Not that she should be, but Stefan had noticed that she was starting to get boobs. Damon had commented about it a few weeks ago and Stefan had punched him in the jaw. He really didn't understand girls, he thought, and it was super annoying that Elena was becoming more of a girl every day.

* * *

Elena showed up to Stefan and Damon's house the next day, having told Stefan she was hanging out with Damon. She was _so_ annoyed that she had to start her period _now_ of all times. Stefan had been right after all, the swimming hole _was_ her favorite. Her aunt Jenna had even gotten her a cute new swimsuit for summer since her old one didn't fit, and she had wanted to show Bonnie, who was going with Matt.

Stefan kept shooting her very annoyed looks as she sat with him in the living room before Amber Bradley ended up showing early. Elena only felt a little bad for him, she knew how much Amber liked Stefan and besides he wasn't stuck hanging out with Damon and feeling like he was going to _die _on the inside. She went up to Damon's room once they left and walked in, finding him sitting in his chair and playing Halo. As if she didn't have to deal with that enough at home.

"Hey," she said, waving her hand in front of his face.

He swore, getting killed by some person that she guessed was the bad guy. Damon turned and glared at her, but she didn't really feel that sympathetic. He seemed to be able to tell, because he gave her a grumpy look before asking, "You're actually going to hang out _here_?"

"You told Stefan I was!" She replied, folding her arms.

"Well you're the one who didn't disagree. Better not let your future husband know you're not being honest." Damon said, bugging her like usual.

She kicked him hard, something she wouldn't usually do, but she really did feel crappy and he was being super annoying. He put his controller down and glared at her before getting up and snapping, "Come on, follow me."

Even though she was feeling defiant, she still did as she was told. He led her down the stairs and through the hall to the kitchen. She muttered something about not being hungry as he reached the fridge, but he pulled some fudgsicles out of the top freezer and handed five of them to her. "Eat these."

"Why?" She asked, confused, although not complaining. She quickly undid the first wrapper and put the yummy frozen chocolate in her mouth.

"Rose says chocolate makes her less angry when she's on her period," he answered. Rose had just moved to town and become friends with Damon, which Elena thought was weird. Damon didn't really hang out with anyone and he always made fun of girls except for maybe Elena, but that was just cause Stefan would get mad. Well maybe that and he still liked her family. "Your mom didn't tell you that?"

"She's out of town, remember?" Elena said, and she thought back to how horrible it was telling her Dad about this. "She said we'd talk when she gets home."

Damon laughed. He always found things like this funny, instead of Stefan who was always nice about anything that bugged her. "That sucks. Do you want me to have Rose come over?"

Elena considered it only briefly, starting on her second fudgsicle and thinking it would be way too weird to ask an older girl questions about something like that, and quickly shook her head. "No. What else did she say though?"

Damon picked up one of the fudgsicles he had handed her and took it for himself. Elena was weirded out that he was being so nice, but maybe he just didn't want her kicking him again. "Nothing, really. Just that it was weird to bleed so long and not die or something. Oh, and you can get pregnant now."

She felt her fudgsicle stick drop. "_What? How_?"

"Sex," he answered simply, taking another fudgsicle when she didn't move. She didn't think she was hungry anymore... He looked up at her and frowned. "Don't worry, you're not going to do it on accident or something."

She frowned in return, knowing enough that she wasn't supposed to talk about sex and stuff but still curious. Stefan didn't know much more than she did, as far as she knew at least, and her parents always made a big deal out of it when she asked things. "Have you had it before?"

He looked at her quickly, maybe surprised that she thought he would have, and said, "no". Then, giving her an appraising glance, said, "Rose and I were going to just to get it over with but I guess it hurts for girls the first time."

"Oh," she said, even more concerned and trying to process the information. "Why does it only hurt for girls?"

He seemed to consider this, saying, "I don't know. Probably for the same reason that you bleed once a month and guys don't."

"Yeah," she said, thinking that made sense. "How many girls have you kissed?"

"Why?" he asked, looking at her. She shrugged, just having been curious. Stefan had always said that it probably wasn't as many as he made people think, but Elena thought that Stefan didn't realize that a ton of girls thought Damon was really hot. He seemed to realize that she wasn't asking because she had a crush on him, and finally answered, "Four. Have you kissed Stefan?"

"No," she answered truthfully, "but I kissed Matt on Truth or Dare once. It was quick though, I don't know if it really counts. It wasn't like on TV where people take forever."

Damon laughed at that, and she felt a little embarrassed. "People take forever cause it's fun, not cause it's TV and they're supposed to."

"It didn't seem fun," she admitted, "just weird."

"Cause Matt was doing it wrong," Damon replied, rolling his eyes. He had taken the last fudgsicle and eaten it, which was okay because Elena had already started feeling a little better. He headed off to his room without saying anything, and she followed him.

"It's not Matt's fault," she defended, "it was his first time too."

She could hear Damon sigh as they climbed up the stairs. "You would think Vicki would at least tell him what to do."

"Have you told Stefan?" she asked, and Damon nodded.

Elena frowned, feeling left out and disappointed that she didn't have an older sibling like Matt or Stefan. Then again Tyler didn't have one and he was just as popular as Damon. Maybe she was too awkward for people to want to kiss her. She was bony and her hair was a boring pin-straight brown after all. "Well I don't think he'd ever kiss someone, he gets too nervous."

"He'd kiss someone if they asked him," Damon responded, looking at her as if he was giving her advice. She ignored it as they entered his room and she flopped on his bed, figuring he'd go back to playing video games in his comfy chair.

He didn't though, instead sitting by her. She looked over at him, finally responding, "Stefan likes blonde girls better, he just won't admit it cause he doesn't want to be shallow. I mean he's totally in love with Lexi."

"Does that bother you?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No. It used to, but just because I wanted someone to like me, not because I liked him."

"You don't think anyone likes you like that?" He wondered, and she thought about it. Tyler definitely didn't, but she just wasn't his type. Matt probably did cause they had kissed and Matt was that sort of person, but Bonnie had a crush on him and Elena wasn't really interested in him anyway. The only other guy that she was close to was Stefan, and like she said he was currently completely crushing on Lexi.

"No one that matters," she shrugged, and then lied, "it's not that big of a deal though."

He smirked, looking over at her. "You're a _girl_, of course it matters."

She shrugged and looked down, not wanting to think about it too much, and replying, "Yeah, but I don't know how to kiss anyway so it doesn't really."

Elena had wondered if he would offer to teach her, but he didn't. She felt a little disappointed, thinking that maybe she was right about being plain and boring. Wondering if she should stay here and wait for Stefan to get back or just leave whenever she wanted, she considered going home. Damon interrupted her thoughts though, saying, "Stefan's dumb, you know. Blonde hair is boring."

"Yeah, I like dark hair too," she said absentmindedly, thinking he was probably talking about Rose, but when she looked up Damon was watching her closely. She felt nervous.

"Do you like blue eyes?" He asked, and she knew immediately that he was talking about him. She wondered if he was only asking so he could tease her about having a crush on him. It would be a very Damon thing to do. Then again, as she watched him he didn't _seem_ like he wanted to tease her.

"I like them more than brown ones," she finally said, "brown eyes are boring."

She thought he would smirk and say something about how she had to think he was hot then, but he didn't. He didn't even make a jibe at Stefan. Instead he seemed to think about her answer, his forehead creasing, until he asked, "Wait, do you just not like them 'cause yours are brown? Or 'cause that asshole Duke teased you about them forever ago?"

"No," she answered, then shrugged, "Well maybe, I don't know. Blue is one of my favorite colors though."

He watched her intently, as if she was actually interesting right now and not just his brother's best friend. She wondered if it was just cause she had gotten her period, which would be weird but then again so was Damon. He sort of stared at her and she didn't really mind. She had a problem about staring too, it was the only thing that Stefan would bother her about. Finally, after holding back the question for as long as she could, she asked, "Would you ever kiss me?"

"No," he said, still watching her. "I don't want to be your boyfriend."

"_What_? You wouldn't have to be my boyfriend after."

He gave her the sort of look that was supposed to mean he was right, saying, "You'd get mad that I would kiss other girls after and I like kissing girls."

"I would not!" she exclaimed, feeling like kicking him again. "I don't have a crush on you or something. You're Stefan's _brother_."

"You don't have a crush on me?" he asked, looking both superior and a little offended, "then why do you want to kiss me?"

"Because I don't want to be bad at it when I do have a crush on someone! And you've had the most practice of anyone I know except for Tyler, and I'm _really_ not kissing him," she reasoned.

Damon just rolled his eyes. "Too bad, Elena. Go kiss Stefan."

He was being so _dumb_ about this, he's the one who acted like kissing wasn't ever a big deal. She considered kicking him, but from how they were sitting on the bed it would be hard and she knew if she tried to punch him he would block it. So of course she did the only other thing she could think of, and quickly moved to kiss him, surprised when he didn't bother moving after all his arguing.

As soon as her lips touched his, she felt nervous again and the stubbornness she was known for left. She pressed her lips, not knowing what else to do, and she heard Damon give a frustrated groan before going ahead and moving his lips against hers. He was right, she thought, Matt must not have been doing it right because while Damon kissed her all she could think was that it felt _good,_ not weird. She moved closer, but Damon didn't reach out to touch her waist or neck like in the movies and she wasn't sure if she felt glad about that or not. She reached out to touch his chest and was glad that he didn't move back. She let her other hand rest on his leg, still awkwardly leaning forward, and it was then that he tensed before starting to _really_ kiss her.

Until they heard the door, at least, and she heard Stefan swear for the first time in her life. She immediately pulled back as Stefan glared daggers at them and stormed off down the hall to his room, and she didn't even look at Damon before running after him. She was glad that Stefan didn't shut the door on her, thinking he was polite even when he was mad. She felt nervous as he sat on his bed, fuming, staring at her with eyes that were hardly ever that angry and definitely not at her. She felt her stomach clench, wondering if she was going to cry. All she could think of saying was, "You're home early."

"Cause I figured out why you couldn't swim and I felt bad!" He snapped, making her feel even more guilty. Tears were starting to prick her eyes. "I didn't think you'd be here making out with Damon or I wouldn't have bothered."

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely, wishing that Stefan wouldn't be mad, "was Amber upset?"

"Yes," he said shortly, then looking a little ashamed of himself, answered, "but not cause I left early."

She wondered what could have possibly happened, thinking that maybe Tyler had done something cause Stefan was always so nice. "What happened?"

He looked down at the blanket of his bed, saying, "She tried to kiss me and I didn't let her."

"Oh," Elena said, "cause you don't like her?"

"Yeah," he said, looking a little judgmental as he snapped, "are you and Damon dating or something?"

"No!" she quickly said, feeling really dumb as she admitted, "I just was embarrassed cause everyone knew how to kiss and I didn't."

Stefan seemed to think this was an acceptable answer, cause she could see his shoulders and face relax a little. She knew that it would have bothered him that she hadn't told him something as big as that. "Oh. I thought you kissed Matt on Truth or Dare. You guys went into the closet."

She felt herself blush, shaking her head. "No, I was really nervous and so he just gave me a peck and we waited."

"He lied to everyone for you," Stefan said, grinning now, "he said you were a really awesome kisser. Tyler asked him."

Elena felt a rush of affection for Matt, glad that the stupid game had made her go with him and not someone less nice. "Really?"

Stefan nodded. She felt herself smile at that, and Stefan looked at her with a grimace as he asked, "Why didn't you ask me to kiss you?"

"Cause I know you don't want to kiss someone you don't want to marry," she answered, "don't worry, though, I didn't tell Damon that."

"I said that when I was seven," Stefan argued.

"And it's still true," Elena said, "you wouldn't kiss Amber even though she's pretty and blonde and likes you."

He moaned, looking up at the ceiling. Elena couldn't help but feel proud that she was right, as much as Stefan would never admit it. He was just as into cheesy romance as she was, and Elena wondered if maybe he was friends with her so he could blame her for it. Stefan looked at her though, his forehead creasing as he was thinking the exact same way that Damon's did. "I could probably marry you, though. Everyone thinks we will anyway."

She thought about this, but shook her head. "Yeah, but we would have to have kids."

"We could adopt them," he said easily, and she looked up at him and started laughing. He frowned at her.

"Are you really going to marry me just so you don't have to ask out other girls?" She asked between giggles.

He rolled his eyes, chucking his pillow at her. "No."

"You totally would," she laughed, and he only glared. At least things were back to normal, she thought. Stefan knew why she wouldn't be able to swim sometimes, and they were friends even though she had kissed Damon and he had gone to the Tyler's birthday party without her. The only difference was now every time she came over she felt _really_ weird around Damon.

* * *

**A/N: So... how'd you like it? :) This was so much fun to write. The next chapter will probably be during this summer too, and have Damon's point of view as well. Look forward to one more awkward talk between Damon and Elena about the birds and the bees, some swimming, and middle school drama. Also parents. And Lexi. **

**Please review! **


	6. Summertime Swimming and Something Else

**A/N: So this chapter only very slightly mature, although I don't specify anything and it's not like anyone is having sex, haha. I have changed the rating to T for chapters further down the line, although I promise it won't ever get above PG-13. This is chapter is only slightly mature for the benefit of mocking poor Damon after Elena had her embarrassing, awkward teenage moment last chapter. :) (I'm so glad I'm not a teenager anymore, haha)**

* * *

"Are you sure you just aren't jealous because you actually like him?" Bonnie asked Elena over the phone that summer. It was July now, and they would be starting their final year in middle school soon, which made Elena a little nervous. It was weird to finally be a teenager.

Elena was currently sitting on her couch, wishing she had a cellphone. It wasn't fair that Stefan got to have one when he was the exact same age as her and her parents _still _said no. Luckily Bonnie didn't have one either so they were both stuck using the house phone. She thought about what Bonnie had said for a minute. "No. I mean, I don't know. He's just with her _all_ the time now, like I don't even exist. They listen to that weird Bon Jovi music even though it's old, they both talk about _everything_, he smiles at her like on one of those romantic movies—,"

"It sounds like you feel replaced for the most part," Bonnie said wisely, and Elena nodded even though her best friend couldn't see her, "but the best thing you can do is just not worry about it and spend all your time with someone else. Replace him to. Eventually he'll miss you and it'll go back to normal."

"Like make him jealous?" Elena asked, frowning into the receiver. She was glad that Jeremy wasn't in the living room playing Xbox like usual and instead with their Dad.

"Not exactly," Bonnie said, but Elena had known the girl long enough to know the sound of her voice when she was grinning, "but it probably wouldn't hurt."

Elena wondered who she could possibly even hang out with that would _bother_ Stefan. He had been her best friend for so long before that she knew he wouldn't care that much about Matt, and Elena didn't want to hang out with Matt just 'cause of this and further his crush on her. She didn't like Tyler enough to pretend. For a minute Elena thought she _had_ to get knew friends, but gave up once she realized the easiest target. "_Damon_."

"Whoah, whoah, what do you mean _Damon_?" Bonnie demanded, and Elena almost laughed as she heard the disgust in her friend's voice. The two hadn't met that often, but Elena knew very well that even then they hadn't gotten along in the slightest.

"You said to make him jealous back!" Elena argued, "He's not going to care about anyone else..."

She could practically hear the hesitation in the girl's breathing. "Yeah, but I didn't mean _Damon_. Ugh."

"Come on, Bonnie, you know he isn't that bad," Elena said in return. She had confessed about making out with Stefan's brother to Bonnie a few weeks ago. Bonnie had been grudgingly surprised that Damon had been nice enough to give her an excuse with Stefan and put up with her PMSing. Elena still hadn't told her about everything that happened between Damon and his dad though, since it wasn't her business to tell people, but she felt like Bonnie would understand him if she had known.

"He's just so arrogant and snarky and a _player_." Bonnie said finally in a sort of whiny tone.

"Bonnie..."

"Fine, fine. Just promise me you won't fall for his creepy bad boy charm and start dating him," her best friend begged.

"Damon doesn't even _date_ girls...," Elena said thoughtfully, as if she had considered it often before just to tease Bonnie. Well, mostly. Elena would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about his words before they kissed. It wasn't like she was even _allowed_ to date anyway though, her parents had made that extremely clear. No cellphone till she was fourteen— _ugh— _and no dating till she was high school. She should have expected it since her parents were the kind that made Jeremy play Xbox in the living room, but that didn't mean she was any less annoyed.

"Elena!"

She started laughing at her friend's admonishment, saying, "Just kidding Bonnie, I promise I won't fall in love with him or something. "

Bonnie sighed theatrically, then giggled, "Okay, okay. So how are you going to get him to help you?"

"If it has to do with bugging Stefan I'm sure he'll volunteer," Elena said dryly, knowing she was right, "but I guess I should probably talk to him about some sort of plan. If I just go over there he could be at Rose's or something. Wish me luck."

"Granted," Bonnie said, then added, "if he does anything stupid tell me and I'll kick his ass."

Elena only laughed, telling her friend goodbye and hanging up. This would work, right? Elena felt a little weird about being in the same vicinity as Damon since they made out, but in a shocking turn of events he hadn't made fun of her for it. Not that he didn't tease Stefan about it, she knew he had. Maybe that was why Stefan had replaced her with Lexi, she thought woefully. Hopefully it was just that he had a crush on Lexi and not that he didn't want to be friends with Elena anymore. Then again, what if Stefan and Lexi started _dating_ and then Stefan never had time for her or Lexi didn't want him to hang out with her? It was such a horrible thought that Elena quickly got off the couch and headed upstairs to change into something cute. Time to talk to Damon.

* * *

Damon wasn't surprised when his father put in a backyard swimming pool for Stefan and him. He wasn't much surprised when the list of everything they wanted became extinct because their father was continuously buying them everything on a weekly basis. They now had ever y cool Xbox game, laptops, the best cellphones, the latest Ipod and consistent Itunes gift cards, and a freaking _credit card_ available for if they wanted to get food for their friends or buy clothes. Damon was only half surprised that his father hadn't bought him a car yet now that he was learning how to drive.

It had been exciting at first, and Damon had almost forgiven his father out of sheer gratitude. Stefan had as well. But then the gifts started correlating with their father's business trips and nights spent working overtime. The bigger the gift, the longer the absence. It seemed that all the work they had spent the past year becoming a proper family had gone down the drain... Not that Damon was complaining, really. He would rather have little parent involvement than be hit around all the time. But Stefan— he hated how disappointed Stefan was all the time. He knew it was hurting his little brother, who had even started spending more time with the Lexi girl whose parents were going through a divorce then Elena Gilbert, poster child for happy family.

He was trying to figure out whether or not he wanted to order pizza or piss of his father and order porn on the big screen tv in his room that afternoon— the swimming pool had been their father's way of apologizing for a three week business trip— but he was saved the decision when someone knocked on the door and came into his room. He immediately looked since no one that was over to see him actually knocked, but then saw Elena. Well that was weird. Hopefully she wasn't about to declare her undying love for him since they made out... "What do you want?"

She gave him a glare, even though she didn't seem surprised or terribly offended at him being rude, answering, "I want to ask you something."

"If it's about us making out—,"

"It's not!" she declared quickly, now actually glaring at him, "I don't know why you think I'm this little girl that's going to fall in love with you if you smile at me, but I'm not okay?"

"You _are_ only thirteen," Damon retorted in his defense.

She quickly snapped back, "And _you_ are really annoying for fifteen, but I don't make fun of you for that."

He couldn't help it, he grinned. She sort of smiled when he did, looking a little pleased with herself. "Okay, so what do you actually want, Elena? I could buy you something, my Dad left the credit card. Do you want an Ipod? Cellphone? Years worth of journals and notebooks to write in?"

Elena frowned at that, not even looking a little tempted. "No, my parents would kill me. What's going on with your Dad? Stefan's been super quiet and weird."

"Nothing to report to the police," he responded thinly, unwilling to talk to her about it if Stefan hadn't. It wasn't that he didn't trust her really, but he didn't want her pity anymore than he wanted a hole in the head, so...

"Fine," she said in return, sounding annoyed but not willing to argue with him to tell her, "I sort of need your help making Stefan jealous and _not because I have a crush on him_."

Amused at how fast she said the last of it despite practically hissing through her teeth, Damon grinned. Well this was new. He didn't think the brunette would ever have it in her huge little heart to be spiteful. "You don't have a crush on him, huh?"

She only glared, her lips set in a thin line and her jaw a little tight as she refused to answer him. Even though he would never say it cause she was only thirteen after all, she was pretty hot— no, cute when she was mad. Cute was the word he was looking for. Actually, scratch that, she wasn't cute _or_ hot, she was _Elena Gilbert_. Stupid hormones... "Okay, so what do you actually want me to do? Make out with you again in front of him or what?"

"No, just... come with me swimming? He's out there swimming with Lexi right now."

If it was anyone else, he probably would have said no. As much as he _did_ like teasing and irritating Stefan he wasn't exactly going to help other people do it. But Elena didn't want to hurt Stefan's feelings anymore than Damon did, she just wanted to get his attention. So Damon found himself agreeing on one condition. "Alright. But you should probably wear a bikini if you actually want it to work. Just swimming with me won't piss him off enough to stop ignoring blondie."

"Nice try, Damon," she said in return, but then started looking a little doubtful, " wait, you're not just saying that because you want to see me in a bikini, right? Or do you actually think he likes her that much?"

"I think that Stefan knows you well enough to see through this whole thing, so you need to do something different," Damon answered honestly. _And I might want to see you in a bikini. _

"Oh," Elena said a little anxiously, "I don't even own a bikini. My Dad wouldn't let me wear one..."

"I think you and Rose might be the same size... she's thin like you and her boobs aren't that big..." Damon went through his closet, looking for the swimsuit pieces that Rose had left at his house since she didn't have a pool. Her Dad hadn't wanted her wearing a bikini either, but Rose wasn't the sort of person to listen to anything she didn't want to. He managed to find the red swimsuit after only a few minutes and came back and showed it to her. Elena frowned. "Oh come on, Elena. It's not like you even have that much to show."

That earned him another glare, and she grabbed the bikini from him and stormed off to the bathroom to change. He chuckled to himself, finding his swim trunks in the closet and changing into them quickly while she was gone. He didn't bother waiting for her and instead grabbed one of the barely used towels from his floor and started to head outside. She called for him when he was down the stairs, and he heard her groan as he called back, "Heading out already!"

She rushed down the stairs after him but he didn't bother looking back. As soon as they reached the patio, both Stefan and Lexi looked up to see them. Stefan's eyes practically bugged out of his head, and Damon held in a laugh as he turned to see if it was really _that_ big of a difference. Elena had kept her hair in a ponytail, which meant even less of her was covered without her long hair in the way. He had been wrong, which wounded his pride a little bit— she certainly _did_ have something to show. Damon wondered if her parents had made her wear sports bras or something to hide the fact that she actually had a decent sized chest, even for his age. He quickly turned back around to smirk at Lexi and Stefan, not wanting gawking to get in the way of his fun. "Care if we share the pool, brother?"

"Uh, no," Stefan said, not really paying attention to him. Damon noticed that in this time Lexi had given a sort of long look at Damon's chest... _that could be promising_. "But why are you and Elena hanging out?"

"Damon asked me to," Elena said easily as she put her towel down on one of the lawn chairs. He had to hand it to her, the girl was a good liar when she wanted to be, "why, are you mad?"

"No," Stefan answered her, looking at her directly for a moment before glancing at Damon and then sighing and turning to Lexi, "are you okay with sharing?"

"Totally," the blonde said easily, and Damon noticed she also filled out a bikini nicely. He had only recently found out that Lexi was actually in his grade instead of Stefan's. Blonde's weren't usually his thing, though... and he wasn't going to go out of his way to hook up with her knowing that Stefan liked her. "We should play chicken!"

"That sounds fun!" Elena agreed a little too readily for someone who was supposed to not like the blonde. Then again, it was Elena, he thought with some amusement. Damon gave an easy smile as the brunette looked over to him hesitatingly, and she became even more excited. Stefan looked rather uncertain about the whole thing, maybe not wanting to have to have either girls' legs wrapped around him.

"Elena's on my team, if that wasn't obvious," Damon called out, earning an especially suspicious look from Stefan that he dutifully ignored. She turned and smiled at him.

They both entered the pool, although Elena easily went in while Damon sort of took his time with the cold water. Part of him realized that he should probably have put sunscreen on now that the sun was beating down on him, but he wasn't about to go back in the house and get it now. When he finally got all the way in— Elena had already made a teasing remark— she climbed on his shoulders. He was glad that she was so light and small now as Stefan sort of struggled with the tall and older Lexi. While Damon didn't know Lexi that well, he remembered clearly what it was like to be hit by Elena and didn't envy the girl very much. Almost as soon as they started, Elena had toppled Lexi and Stefan into the water and cheered with Damon. Lexi seemed both surprised and annoyed, and quickly demanded a rematch that Stefan didn't look to enthused about. Sure enough, while they fought just a little bit longer, Elena and Damon still won.

"You guys suck!" Elena laughed, earning a glare from Lexi. He smirked at Stefan, who seemed rather annoyed in return despite not being a sore loser generally. Mission accomplished, Damon thought as he gave a wink to Elena.

"Yeah, yeah," Lexi said with a half smile after a moment as she turned to Stefan, "want to go inside and get some food? I'm starving."

Stefan quickly agreed and they both left the pool, leaving Damon and Elena alone. He figured she would say something before going to follow them, but she didn't. Maybe she was right about him underestimating her, he thought. She gave him a soft smile, that turned a little awkward as she asked, "Do you think it worked?"

"Definitely," Damon answered with a nod.

Oddly enough, she didn't grin or even seem that worried. Instead she let herself float on her back for a moment while she thought, and Damon watched as the drops of water glistened across her body. He remembered what it had been like to kiss her. She hadn't been bad at all, for her first time, and she had even touched his chest. _Not that I care_, he tried to tell himself. It didn't work, especially watching her in the water, barely clothed. Not even telling himself she was thirteen and stupid little Elena Gilbert. He looked away, starting to feel a little uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry for ignoring you after we kissed," Elena said after a moment and Damon found his eyes going immediately back. She was sort of swimming in spot, no longer floating on her back, but her eyes were watching him intently.

"I probably had it coming," he responded, then wondered what the hell he had just said. Was he being self-deprecating? What was wrong with him?

She shook her head. He debated getting closer to her, but didn't, knowing he'd end up kissing her. Maybe she would kiss him back, but hadn't she already gotten the experience she wanted? It wasn't that hard to learn how to kiss, after all. This was so stupid... he might as well get out of the pool and go play Xbox or something...

He didn't move.

She moved a little closer, watching him. He decided to look away, not wanting to get anymore visual stimulation. His thoughts were already increasingly focusing on what it would be like to kiss her right now, like this, and how he had definitely been wrong about her being cute.

"Damon," her voice interrupted his thoughts and she was watching him carefully, a confused expression on her face. What was she confused about? "Your shorts look weird."

She broke off, looking abashed, although Damon doubted she even know exactly what she was embarrassed about. _Shit_. He quickly tried to think of Miss Pearl, the elementary teacher, naked and it only barely helped curb things. Should have freaking gone and played Xbox. Now he was stuck, not wanting to make it even more obvious by getting out of the pool. "Can you stop staring?"

"Sorry," she said quickly, but she didn't stop. Instead she looked only even more curious at his obvious humiliation, "why are you embarrassed though?"

"Shut up, Elena," he snapped, refusing to answer.

Of course she didn't. "No, tell me. Is it your, um, _you know_? Why is it doing that?"

He gave her an incredulous look, but she didn't even blush. That damn curiosity was going to get her in trouble, he was sure of it. He remembered that she hadn't told her parents about him telling her that getting your period meant sex got you pregnant, though, so he found himself awkwardly grounding out, "Because—,"

But he couldn't finish telling her. Elena may have been nice, but she liked to tease just as much as he did. The last thing he wanted was for her to think that him being turned on by her in a bikini meant that he liked her or something. Except he knew she would just continue asking, and _what if she asked Stefan_? More horrified by that thought than he was her teasing him, he continued, "because sometimes it happens when a guy thinks a girl is hot and stuff."

"Really?" she asked, not immediately asking if that meant she was causing it although he was sure it crossed her mind, "but it doesn't happen all the time, right? It's never happened to Stefan at least..."

"I'm sure it's happened to Stefan before," Damon said, _really_ trying not to think about his brother right now, "but sometimes it's easy to control and sometimes it's not."

"Why does it actually happen though?" she persisted. He wondered if she was trying to kill him from mortification. Maybe he was being punk'd or something.

"Because guys bodies are wired to think about sex and that's just something it does to get ready for it whether we want it to or not, okay? Can you drop it already?"

Elena didn't just drop it though. Damon wished that he had just let her wear her stupid one piece and told her to make Stefan jealous some other way now, and resolved to leave her alone in the future. It would have been one thing if he actually thought sex with her wouldn't be completely weird, or if she had actually been interested in him, but all she did was sort of grimace. "Does that mean you want to have sex with me?"

"No," he said as quickly and firmly as he could, "and if you tell anyone else about this, I swear to God, I'll—,"

"You don't have to be rude about it," she snapped, having rolled her eyes at his threat.

"Yes, I do," he retorted, "it's not something that I want everyone knowing, alright? And if you told your parents they would hate me so just shut up about it."

Elena sort of laughed as she mischievously smiled, "You mean you don't want anyone knowing you think I'm hot?"

What he should have said was yes. If he had been honest, the following things wouldn't have happened and he wouldn't have ended up in almost just as much trouble. But he wasn't anywhere near perfect, and he had already suffered a huge enough blow to his pride, and so instead of being honest he rudely replied, "It wasn't you, it was Lexi."

"Oh," she said, frowning quickly and looking a little hurt even though she shouldn't actually care, "well I'm going to go. Thanks for helping. I'll leave Rose's suit in the bathroom."

And then she left, and Damon felt even worse than he had originally. What the hell was wrong with him?

* * *

**A/N: Hope you got a good laugh at least, before the angst, haha. Expect the next few chapters to be less awkward, but still very much younger teenagers trying to navigate through life and school. I intend to make this nice and a little slow since everyone seems to love them being young and dorky. :) **

** Please review! All the previous reviews give me so much inspiration and support. This story is fun, but it wouldn't be anything without the people that read it.**

**Thank you! Next chapter... the last year of middle school starts for Elena and Stefan, and Damon starts high school.**


	7. Bikinis and Babysitters

**A/N: Here you go! New chapter! Sorry the wait was a little long, just started a new job. Expect about two more chapters for Stefan and Elena's eighth grade and then... high school :)**

* * *

Elena forgot to leave the suit in the bathroom. She hadn't noticed until she was outside of her house, a good twenty minute walk away from the Salvatore house. _This is all_ _Damon's fault_, she thought to herself miserably, wondering if she should just run back anyway. It would be really embarrassing, though, and what if even more people saw her? Damon had been such a jerk about the shorts thing and then when she had run inside Stefan had been flirting with Lexi so much that he didn't even notice she was upset and now all Elena wanted to do was go up to her room and cry.

"Elena Marie Gilbert, _what the hell are you wearing_?"

It took all of her strength to turn and face her dad who was walking up to the house with Jeremy and baseball gear in tow. They must be coming back from the park, sometimes her dad forced them to walk places for "good health". She tried to remember the last time she had heard him swear out of anger, but couldn't. Forcing herself not to cry even though her skin felt on fire and her stomach felt like lead, she started apologizing, "It's Rose's, I'm sorry, I just—,"

"_Get inside_," her dad spat, and she quickly obeyed. Part of her was starting to build up resentment— _other_ girls were allowed to wear bikinis, why couldn't she?— but she was still her daddy's girl.

As soon as she walked inside, Jeremy sort of smirking behind her as he walked with their dad, her dad sent Jeremy up to his room and told Elena to sit down at the kitchen table. _Crap_. Marching slowly and bitterly into the kitchen where her mother was sipping on some tea and looking over some papers, Elena felt the resentment build as she looked at the raised eyebrow her mother gave her. It wasn't just for her parents and their ridiculous rules, either. No, this wouldn't have even happened if Damon hadn't been so stupid and Stefan hadn't replaced her with Lexi. A small bubble of anger buzzed inside her but she didn't speak, simply folding her arms and waiting for her dad to sit down or speak. He didn't sit down. He stared at her mother, who seemed to tell how upset her husband was.

"Do you see what she's wearing, Miranda?" Her dad finally spoke, as if incensed that the sight of Elena hadn't brought his wife to yelling either.

Her mother sighed, although giving Elena a sort of cross look as well, answering, "Well it is bright red, dear."

Elena would have giggled on a different sort of day, but now she only glared at the wooden table. Stupid swimsuit...

"We _specifically_ told her she couldn't wear a bikini," her dad argued quickly, "and not only did she not listen, she was wearing it in front of _Stefan_ and _Damon_ and god knows who else!"

Another sigh from her mother, who finally put her papers down— something for the town beautification committee— and turned to Elena. "Why did you wear it, honey?"

She thought about telling the truth, she really did, but why would she? Her dad would only get angrier if she knew he had "used her body to get attention" or whatever and so would her mom, probably, so all she said was, "Because it was cute and I wanted to see what it looked like."

"Then why didn't you change after?" Her mother asked her shrewdly, giving her the interrogation look. Her dad's arms were folded across his chest as well, and although he was being quiet she knew he was waiting to pounce on the first bad answer.

It was too much. Elena gave in, too angry to stop from spilling her guts. Screw Damon and her own pride. "Because I was trying to make Stefan jealous with Damon, okay? It's not even that big of a deal, every other girl my age can wear one so I don't see why I shouldn't be able to. You guys are so strict."

Her father's face turned a shade that she hadn't seen on him before. Apparently she had underestimated exactly how big of a deal it was, because her father's usual educated responses became broken English instead. "You. Making Stefan jealous. With Damon. In a _bikini_?!"

"Oh, Elena," her mother said with exasperation, giving him a look before adding, "Grayson, let me talk to her. You're not going to help like this."

"Fine," he snapped back, adding, "I'd like to go have a chat with Damon anyway."

"_Grayson. _Calm down. Elena clearly decided to do this on her own, threatening a teenage boy won't do any good." Elena's mother admonished, glaring at him.

Whatever he said in response, neither or Elena heard it as he stormed out of the room still muttering under his breath. If she wasn't so mad at Damon she probably would have been worried, but as it was she was only just a little embarrassed for herself. Once he left the room she met her mother's watchful eyes. "Elena, you know better than to do something like this. What's going on?"

"Stefan replaced me with Lexi! I had to do _something_ to get his attention and he's like completely in love with her."

"Then you should have talked to him about it," her mother chided, "instead of pulling something like this with his brother. Seriously, what's gotten into you? Is it really Stefan you're jealous of?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elena shot back defensively. She sort of wished her mother would just ground her for two weeks instead of asking questions like this, and wondered if she could avoid all of this by just walking off. It might be worth it, right?

Her mother only stared. "I _mean_ did you really wear the bikini for Stefan or did you do it for Damon? Because Stefan may be a boy, but he wouldn't like you any more for wearing something like that and you know it."

"Why would I wear it for _Damon_?" she snapped back stubbornly.

Elena's mother only pursed her lips, taking awhile to respond before changing the topic to something even more mortifying. "Elena, do you realize what you do to boys your age when you wear something like that?"

"Yes," she argued defiantly. Her dad wasn't here and she could be way more honest.

"What?" her mother asked in return, maybe not believing her. This was so stupid! She was thirteen now and they were still treating her like she was eight or something. Everyone did, even Damon did sometimes and she was sick it. Being poor little innocent Elena was getting really old.

Not skipping a beat, she retorted, "Well it makes their _things_ grow for sex_."_

Her mother choked. Elena felt an _immense_ surge of regret. Why had she said that? Maybe her mom was right, maybe something had gotten into her... Thank god her dad wasn't here. Was she going crazy? This was all _Damon's_ fault, she resolved, it had to be. He was just a bad influence. As soon as school started she wouldn't see him much of each other because he would be at the high school and she was still at the middle school and then everything would be fine. "I'm sorry, Mom, I didn't mean—,"

"Elena," her mom interrupted awkwardly, "_please_ tell me you haven't already gotten the sex talk from your friends."

She didn't say anything. She hadn't completely, but it seemed like she knew everything for the most part. It wasn't that hard to figure out, especially when she caught Damon saying stuff or Tyler Lockwood making jokes. One time she and Stefan had caught sight of some porn movie Damon had been watching before running out of the room and busting up laughing at the absurd sounds they had heard from the television. Even though it had been funny at the time, the images were still burned in her brain.

"Alright," her mother said rather calmly in response to her daughter's guilty silence, "I'll have to make sure to explain everything later then, who knows what you've heard. But at least tell me if you've done anything besides kissing?"

Elena shook her head, her face burning as she thought about her old make-out session with Damon.

"But you have kissed someone?"

Elena nodded.

"Kissed like a peck, or kissed for more than a few seconds?"

Oh my god, this was embarrassing! Her mother was nice enough not to demand a name, even though Elena was one hundred percent certain that her mother was probably dying to know who it was, but still... "More than a few seconds."

Her mother's lips sort of curled for a moment, and she quickly asked, "Is he going to be a freshman or is he in the same grade as you?"

"Mom!" Elena groaned, annoyed that she had broken the unspoken rules of this conversation. Her mother only laughed, and Elena felt a little happy that she wasn't being yelled at for kissing boys even though she wasn't supposed to be dating.

"You can either tell me, or we can have the sex talk now."

Elena glared, not falling for it one bit. "We're having it either way, there's no point telling you."

The older woman smiled, shaking her head. "You caught me. So. Explain exactly what you've been told..."

Damn Damon Salvatore, Elena cursed.

* * *

_Effing Elena freaking Gilbert,_Damon swore in his head as he opened the recently knocked on door (Stefan wasn't home) to find Mr. Gilbert standing there, holding Rose's red bikini in hand. For the first time in awhile he was extremely glad that his father wasn't home for this, but still wasn't exactly happy to see Elena's parent either. He had a lot of respect and gratitude for Mr. Gilbert, even if it had been well over a year since he had lived with their family, and the last thing he wanted was to get yelled at for whatever Elena had or hadn't told them. "Hello, sir."

"Hello, Damon," Mr. Gilbert said thinly, thrusting the bikini forward and into Damon's hands. Damon felt rather awkward holding it, and quickly put it on the foyer table.

Mr. Gilbert raised an eyebrow as he did so, asking, "Is your father home?"

"No," Damon answered, trying not to sound too rebellious like he always did when facing an authority figure, "he's out of town for two weeks."

"Two weeks?" The man asked incredulously.

Damon didn't reply, feeling rather awkward about it. It seemed rather normal at the time for his dad to be gone, considering Damon was fifteen and a half already and Stefan wasn't that much younger. They could take care of themselves. But apparently it wasn't as simple, given the look on Mr. Gilbert's face.

"I guess I can just talk to you, then," Mr. Gilbert said, a lot of the resolution in his face having left already. Damon wished it hadn't. He'd rather deal with anger than pity.

"I promise I haven't completely ruined your daughter, if that's what you're thinking," Damon said, hoping that Stefan wasn't on his way home or something. It was six, so probably not just yet, but still... Stefan would be upset if he thought Damon was causing trouble with Elena's family.

"That's not what I meant," the man sighed, "I just—,"

"You mean you didn't drive over here at dinner time so you could yell at me for corrupting your daughter and taking advantage of her feelings for Stefan? Because if not, bringing the bikini sends mixed signals."

Mr. Gilbert stared at Damon, and Damon stared back. He may have felt a little guilty, but it wasn't like he had done anything actually wrong and Elena had been the instigator for the most part anyway. There was a stretch of silence that felt like at least thirty minutes but was probably only two, and then finally Mr. Gilbert asked, "When is your father getting home?"

"That depends," Damon responded warily.

"No it doesn't," Mr. Gilbert answered, far more serious and demanding than Damon could stand up to, at least not without doing something he didn't want to.

"Fine," he sighed, "he gets home next Friday."

Another stretch of silence, and Mr. Gilbert seemed to be internally debating. Maybe he was trying to decide whether or not to call child services or simply wait for Damon's father, he couldn't tell. It turned out to be neither, though, when Elena's dad finally said, "Come on. You shouldn't be alone this long. You can stay at our house."

"And deal with your daughter more than I have to?" Damon asked incredulously, "No offense, but I'll take my chances here. Ask Stefan if he wants to."

"My daughter—," He started only part defensively, but mostly sounding relieved.

"—Is great and all but she's not eleven and I'm not thirteen anymore. No thanks."

The older man seemed to be both grateful for this answer and also still concerned, because all he said in response was, "Well you shouldn't be here alone, and I don't know how I feel about Elena coming over here all the time without an adult in the house."

"Really?" Damon asked, "You mean no adult is still worse than my father? Color me shocked."

Mr. Gilbert didn't laugh or smile. He only shook his head, though not in response to Damon's statement really, and stepped out of the doorway. "Be careful, Damon. Call us if you need anything."

Damon mumbled a response and shut the door. He wasn't sure how to feel, suddenly. Should he be angry that Elena's father was going to blame him for everything with the bikini? Maybe, maybe not. He clearly didn't realize what exactly had gone on, at least, otherwise he probably would have been angrier and more threatening. Should he be worried that he might call child services again? He didn't seem like he was going to, but Damon knew the man well enough to know that he wouldn't just do _nothing_. And why the hell, especially after today, was Mr. Gilbert still willing to take him in like it was nothing when Damon's own father couldn't stand to be in the house with his sons for more than a week?

88888888888888888888888888888

One week later, they now had a _babysitter_. Luckily, in Damon's opinion at least, it was Vicki and Matt Donovan's mom. She was pretty cool and would let them do anything they wanted as long as they got their homework done (school had now started) as per her employment agreement. Damon knew his father had to have been desperate after most likely getting a call from Elena's father, because the woman had admitted that his father was paying her damn good money just to make sure they got A's. She even had her own part of the house she was allowed to stay in, although she never did. She said it was too fancy for her, even though Damon could tell she admired it.

As a result, Matt and Vicki were over a lot. At first Damon had been annoyed because Matt was just as weird and goodie-two-shoes as Stefan, but as soon as Stefan started becoming good friends with Matt they left him and Vicki alone. And Vicki— well, Vicki wasn't someone Damon exactly minded being alone with to say the least. She was in his grade, had his attitude and then some, and was a pretty damn good kisser. Rose hated her, but then again Rose had the sort of moral limits that Vicki didn't. In other words, she and Damon got along fabulously.

Today Vicki and him were in his room making-out, her mom downstairs drinking wine and watching some tv show, but Vicki moved back after a moment and asked, "Who are you taking to Homecoming?"

"No one," Damon responded incredulously, wondering why she would think anything different, "those dances are lame."

"Yeah, probably," she said, and Damon could practically _see_ the red flags shooting up all around him, "but you don't _know._"

"Yes, I do," he snapped, hoping if he was rude that she would just give up and drop it, "they're the same as all the other school dances except we're _older_."

Vicki rolled her eyes, rolling off of him and onto the space of bed beside him. Damn it, he thought. He should have known Rose would be right and that the girl with no limits only had no limits because she was insecure and would fall for him. _Why was it always the insecure girls that fell for him? _"You keep yourself pegged in this little box, you know that? Why do you care so much what other people think?"

"Why," Damon started with feigned pleasantness as he sat up and started fixing his shirt, "don't you ask Lockwood if you want to go that bad?"

"Mason?" Vicki asked, a weird expression crossing her face.

"No, he's out of your league," Damon said, hoping desperately that if he was rude enough she would get the point and leave him alone. Maybe he could even lose the babysitter altogether. "I meant the eighth-grader, Tyler."

Her jaw tightened. He wondered if she would slap him, but she didn't. Instead she angrily said, "You're a dick, you know that?"

"Perfectly aware," he said simply, a smile on his face. He was fairly annoyed though, Vicki had been a rather convenient partner and now he would have to go back to mixing it up even more often. "Feel free to tell all your friends. Oh, wait, all those drugs— they probably won't remember..."

"You know even if he's younger at least I could get Tyler," Vicki said, and Damon only raised an eyebrow as he waited to see where she was going with this, "you spent all that time last year staring at her and even you couldn't get Elena Gilbert to—,"

"Get out," Damon snapped angrily, not even bothering to reply that yes he _had_ gotten Elena to kiss him, thank you very much. Vicki wasn't worth the argument and he respected Elena enough not to spread it around.

"Gladly," Vicki spat, leaving the room in a huff and making Damon feel even more irritated than he had been just at her feelings for him.

He didn't even bother listening to hear what Vicki told her mom downstairs, instead taking out his cellphone and calling Rose. After five rings he almost hung up, but then she answered and he heard her voice say, "Let me see. It's about four o clock which means you got home from school, pretended you had no homework so you and Vicki could get busy and then Vicki finally proved me right about ten minutes ago. How'd I do?"

"Five minutes," Damon answered, unsure whether or not to grin or let himself stay irritated, "other than that, flawless."

"As usual," Rose replied with a laugh, "oh Damon, when will you ever realize I am always right? First the whole Lexi thing—,"

"Stop with the Lexi thing," Damon complained, rolling his eyes and looking up at the ceiling of his bedroom. After the incident with Elena he had decided to at least try and see if Lexi would be a good idea, but she had been way too romantic and it had ended even worse than things with Vicki.

Rose laughed once more. "It's just so predictable. I don't see why you don't just become a proper asshole and go on dates to string them along, but no, you insist on having as little to do as possible with them if it's not sexual. Sort of honorable, in an effed up way, you know that?"

"That's my motto," he replied.

"So what lines did she use when you told her no?" Rose asked, curious in a sort of guilty way that Damon appreciated, "Don't tell me she blamed your insecurities?"

"Apparently I'm too concerned about my reputation to be vulnerable—," Rose scoffed, but with a sort of amused tone underneath it, "but I'm also a dick who couldn't even get an eight grader to notice slash make out with me. Like I can't convince _anyone_ to make out with me."

"I don't know," Rose said thoughtfully, "Mason Lockwood might be a hard sell, although that could be pretty—,"

He pulled his ear away from the phone as quickly as he could before he could hear the rest of that sentence, making desperate and disgusted noises as he tried to get that thought out of his head. When he could hear her giggling again on the other end, he finally moved back and said, "Not cool."

"Yeah, yeah. So what did you say to the Elena jibe?" Rose asked, and Damon got up from his bed to see if the Donovan's had left yet. He didn't hear the downstairs TV anymore, or any yelling...

"Why do you assume she was referring to Elena?"

Rose chuckled rather derisively, as if his question almost offended her. "You don't want me to answer that."

He had to admit that was probably true. Rose had a knack for making uncomfortable truths even more uncomfortable and bare. As he walked down the stairs he heard silence. That was a good sign. "I told her that at least Elena was a damn good kisser and she should get out."

"No, you didn't," Rose laughed, "even if you weren't worried about your reputation being ruined, you wouldn't tell one of the biggest gossip queens in our grade about Elena."

Damon groaned. Stupid Elena Gilbert. Ruining his heartless reputation since fourth grade.

* * *

**A/N: Next chapter- the resolution of the Stefan/Lexi/Elena drama, and Elena tries to set someone up... :)**


	8. Parties and Personalities

**A/N: Sorry, sorry, but here it is! It's a fun one. :D**

* * *

"You have two girls fighting over you," Damon said disbelievingly, "and instead of using it to your advantage you've decided to try and make them _like_ each other? How the hell are we related?"

"I ask myself that all the time," Stefan muttered in response, irritated at his brother's reaction. Just once, he wished that his brother could be helpful when it came to things like this. Instead, he was always treated with mockery.

Damon seemed to be thinking how best to turn the situation around, which didn't actually comfort Stefan despite him being the one that had asked his brother for help. It had all started earlier this afternoon when both Lexi and Elena had come over to hang out without telling him. Without Stefan even realizing what was going on before it was far too late, the two girls were fighting. He didn't understand it. They were both similar and kind to people and liked to laugh but for some reason they couldn't just get along. After putting up with their bickering for an hour and trying to defuse the situation countless of times, Stefan had snapped at them to get over it before locking both of them in his bedroom.

"Well," his brother started, his voice taking on a tone that Stefan knew all too well, "you could always tell them they can't come out until they've _kissed_ and made up…"

"Damon, you're not helping. Please stop being a jerk for two seconds and—,"

"Fine, fine," his older brother replied, getting up from the large black gaming chair in his room and standing up, "but don't say I've never done anything for you."

Stefan quickly followed as Damon walked out of the room and leaned against Stefan's bedroom door. There was silence, which seemed almost scarier than yelling would have been, and then Damon loudly spoke as he said, "You know, Stefan, I don't know why they think you're such a big deal when both of them had so much fun making out with me."

He felt his stomach drop. He had known Elena had kissed Damon, had even been pretty sure that it had happened more than once, but Lexi? Anger started rise but before he could hit Damon or demand an explanation, both girls had angrily replied on the other side of the door.

"You weren't even _that_ good—,"

"I was still _young_—,"

Damon smirked at the door, looking over at Stefan with an amused expression as he whispered, "There you go. Now they have a common enemy", and then walked off. Stefan glared at his brother's retreating back before unlocking the door and entering into the room. He must have looked as annoyed and irritated as he felt, because both girls looked rather guilty as he stared at them. A few seconds later, after stewing in it a little bit, his eyes found Lexi's and he asked, "You and Damon. Seriously?"

She frowned, her posture getting a little defensive, but when she spoke it only sounded apologetic, "It was a bad mistake—,"

"Yeah, no kidding!" Stefan argued, feeling anger rising up as he turned to Elena, "has every girl in Mystic Falls made out with him?"

"No," Elena said, but he could tell that she wasn't sure both from her tone and the guilty glance she shared with Lexi, "but—,"

"But what?" he exclaimed, "why is it that everyone falls at his feet no matter how much of an asshole he is half the time? It doesn't even make sense!"

Lexi looked over at Elena helplessly, and Elena returned the look before sort of deciding on what to say. It was the first time that they seemed to be in sync and not mad at each other, but Stefan wasn't in any mood to appreciate it now. _Stupid Damon_. His brother had to make out with _everyone _just to prove that he could and here his two _best friends_ were having made it easier for him. Wasn't anyone loyal anymore?

"Stefan, he's just—," Elena started, her expression awkward as she paused before continuing, "I mean you're—,"

"You're the kind of guy that girls want to marry," Lexi interjected, her face looking kind despite the blow she had just dealt to his ego, "and that's not a bad thing but it means that girls aren't going to just mess around with you. They actually want your respect."

He glared at both of them. He should have been happy that he wouldn't have to deal with them being at each other's throats anymore, but instead he suddenly didn't give a damn if they were fighting or not. "Well then maybe they should start by _not making out with Damon_."

And then, despite knowing that he was being a little overdramatic, he left.

* * *

Elena Gilbert had no trouble admitting it— she hated Lexi Branson. Maybe that was immature of her and maybe she was over-reacting, but the blonde was ruining her life and was too evil to even care. First she had butted in and made a disaster of Elena and Stefan's friendship- Stefan had ignored both of them ever since their fight and started hanging out with Matt- and then she had gone and become one of Damon's stupid hookups. Stefan had been right, Damon didn't _need_ any more hookups or girls falling at his feet. It was as if the girl was doing it on purpose.

Since she didn't have Stefan to hang out with, Elena started spending a lot more time with Bonnie. They quickly became even closer than they had been and Bonnie spent practically almost every day after school at Elena's house and then on weekends Elena would spend the night over at Bonnie's. It was nice actually being able to talk about boys whenever she wanted and have someone who shared the same love of that one boy band she adored. She didn't even have to deal with videogames or weird older brothers.

That Friday they had just arrived at Elena's house after school and they both went into the kitchen to get snacks. Elena quickly found some chocolate pudding cups and handed two over to Bonnie, also taking two for herself. "Come on, Bonnie, just ask him out! It won't be that hard."

"I don't know, Elena," her friend replied, frowning as she grabbed some spoons, "what if he doesn't actually like me?"

"Why wouldn't he?" she demanded to know. Bonnie was pretty, smart, and fun to be around; there really wasn't any reason she should be insecure.

Her friend gave her a long look, biting her lip before she finally said, "He might like someone else, you know."

Elena knew what she was getting at. There had always been rumors going around that Matt had a crush on Elena ever since that one time they had played truth or dare. Stefan had even hinted at it once or twice before but she had never really paid attention to it. Matt was really nice and cute, but he just wasn't someone Elena could actually see herself falling for… ever. Not unless she wanted to settle for something boring and predictable and that just wasn't what Elena wanted in the slightest. "Well _someone else_ doesn't like him. Let's just go tonight and I'll talk to him and we'll see what happens."

Tonight was one of the big parties that Tyler Lockwood was throwing on his absolutely enormous property. Most of her grade would be there and even some older kids as well. Elena knew Matt was going, which probably meant that Stefan would too. She hoped it wouldn't be awkward, and the worry made her even sadder— she shouldn't have to be afraid of seeing her best friend.

"Yeah, yeah," Bonnie said with a small smile. "You're not going to force me on him and then leave to go make out with Damon, right?"

"For the last time, Bonnie Bennett, I don't like him," Elena shot back, rolling her eyes. Ever since her friend had heard about the bikini incident she had teased Elena non-stop. "And I doubt he would go to any party that Mason might be at anyway."

Bonnie smirked in response, not even pretending to believe her. Friends could be so _annoying_.

* * *

The party turned out to be just as big as Elena had expected and she was glad that she and Bonnie had put so much time into getting ready now that there were so many cute guys their age and older.

Bonnie was currently by her side and they were busy scanning the crowd for people they knew. As soon as Elena spotted Matt on the outskirts of the fire and people, she nudged Bonnie who immediately inhaled a large breath. Elena tried not to laugh at her friend's nervousness, saying, "I'll be right back."

She turned around when Bonnie had reached forward and grabbed her arm to stop her, giving her friend a look. "I know, I know, but it's just scary! You don't get it, I've never seen you nervous a day in your life."

"It will be fine, Bonnie," Elena repeated with a sigh, prying her arm away, "just keep giving yourself that pep talk I gave you earlier, okay?"

She didn't pay attention to whatever Bonnie muttered in return, making her way through the crowd of people and trying not to be noticed by everyone just yet. When she reached Matt, he grinned and greeted her, but she got right to the point. "Do you like Bonnie? Or think she's cute?"

His face turned serious, almost frown-like, and he stuttered as he said, "I don't know, I haven't really thought about it, I guess."

"You should," Elena replied with a smile, "while talking to her. It helps the process."

"I don't know, Elena," he tried to say, but she pushed him in the direction of Bonnie, who was looking as though she was busy talking to Amber Fell and not freaking out. Elena felt some pride at that.

Matt finally gave her one last hesitant look before leaving, and Elena grinned as she waved at him. She was about to go see if she could find something to drink when she turned to see Stefan walking up to her and froze.

"Hey," he greeted a little awkwardly.

She tried not to appear too uncomfortable as she replied, "hey", back.

"I'm, uh, sorry how I acted," he admitted, looking at the ground with his hands in his pockets, "I shouldn't have been that upset and I shouldn't have ignored you."

"It's okay, Stefan," she said, feeling rather happy that their fight was over and not too bugged, "I know you liked Lexi and everything-,"

He sort of laughed a little roughly, rolling his eyes at himself and shrugging. "See, it wasn't even that, although that was part of it. I just- I guess I was jealous of Damon's personality, as stupid as that is."

"Because he's so comfortable with being himself," Elena said knowingly. She had always admired that about Stefan's older brother and it was partly what drew her to him. As a friend, at least. Right?

"Yeah," Stefan muttered, looking extremely embarrassed. Elena knew he wouldn't have told this to anyone else and it made her feel special. "I just don't know who I am half the time. Part of me wants to be the person my father wants and the other part just wants to let go and say 'screw him' just like Damon."

"So what would you do if you completely let go? Use up your Dad's credit card?" Elena asked mischievously, starting to walk now.

He followed her, looking in thought for awhile before answering, "No. Probably just make out with people and drink a lot."

Elena laughed, but then wondered about his answer. Stefan was always so secretive about how he felt half the time even though he was so sensitive that she had to ask, "Does it really bother you that you haven't kissed anyone? Be honest."

He only looked away, and Elena couldn't help but laugh no matter how badly timed it was. "Stefan half the girls in our grade would kiss you if you just asked them. It's always been by your choice that you haven't made out with anyone."

"Do you know how weird it is to just ask someone that?" he demanded defensively, looking rather animated all of the sudden, "and then what if they thought I wanted to dare them when I didn't?!"

Elena was grinning despite his irritation. "All you have to do is ask, 'Hey do you want me to kiss you?' and then they say-,"

"Yes," he replied, rolling his eyes as she waited expectantly for him to fill in a response for more than a minute.

"And then you just-," and she kissed him lightly on the lips to prove her point and so he wouldn't be so insecure, but he pulled her closer and before she knew it they were _actually_ kissing and then the worst thing possible could have happened as she heard the last voice she wanted to hear say, "Well, well, brother, I guess we have more in common than I thought."

She immediately pulled back, her stomach plummeting into the ground as if she was on a terrifying rollercoaster, and turned to see Damon standing a few feet away, leaned up against a tree. Everything on his face showed nothing but amusement and yet Elena felt so terribly _guilty_. It wasn't like Damon never kissed anyone else, so it really made no sense, but she felt it all the same...

"Are you finding the worst moments to interrupt my life on purpose, or are you just hoping to piss off Mason?" Stefan replied in a snarky tone, and she could tell that he had noticed her reaction... _Crap._

"Neither," Damon responded with a smirk, "surprisingly enough, my world doesn't revolve around little eighth graders- or Lockwood. Anyway, _Elena_, your dear brother is here and drunk off his ass so you might want to handle that if you can fit it in to your schedule."

_Ugh. How dare he act like she was making out with people all the time!_ She gave an apologetic look to Stefan before storming off. Stefan didn't follow her, but for some idiotic reason Damon did. What was his problem?! She tried to walk faster but he still kept up with her.

"So, you and my brother? How long did that take to happen? I'll have to collect my bets now, you see, so be specific."

"Leave me alone, Damon," she snapped back angrily, "go find someone else to annoy."

"Oh, I'm annoying now?" he said, a laugh that was just a little too harsh escaping his lips, "was that before or after you kissed Stefan?"

She whipped around, pausing in her search to find Jeremy to yell, "Before, actually. In case you hadn't noticed you're sort of a dick sometimes."

"Oh, really? Please enlighten me on what I've done to offend Ms. High-and-Mighty."

"You—," she started, stopping quickly before she ended up yelling at him about Lexi, then picking up again with the lame excuse of, "you're terrible to Stefan when it comes to girls he likes even though you _know_ how nervous he gets."

"That's what this is about," he said, his eyes flashing and his jaw tight, "me teasing Stefan?"

"Yes," she said petulantly, then arguing, "_no_. It's about how you treat everyone like they're only there for your amusement! Like no one else has feelings or even matters."

"And what have I done that hurt _your feelings_, Elena?" he demanded.

She stood with her arms folded across her chest and she realized with a start that she was breathing a little irregularly, as if her emotions were so strong they were physically manifesting. All she had to do was tell him about Lexi and how much it had bothered her. It would have been easy, or at least should have been. Instead she narrowed her eyes into one last potent glare before snapping, "I have to go find my brother."

She left before she could hear his response.

* * *

**A/N: Hoped you like it! Got to love that middle school drama, haha. One more chapter before high school. :D**


	9. Eighth Grade and Endings

**A/N: So for starters, I apologize about the last chapter. I didn't realize how many people would be so upset about Elena just kissing Stefan otherwise I would have explained beforehand how this will NEVER be a Stelena fic. I understand how terribly annoying the whole triangle thing is and I'm not going to go there. All I needed was a breaking point for Elena and Stefan to start going their own ways and it seemed like a natural thing to happen between boy/girl friends. **

**Anyway, for those of you that are still with me... here is more Delena goodness. :)**

* * *

It had been a long walk home. First, Bonnie and Elena had struggled to help Jeremy walk in a straight line and stand upright the whole way. Secondly, Bonnie had managed to weasel the information about kissing Stefan out of her and had gone on a very long rant about how Elena was a complete idiot when it came to guys in front of her _brother_. She was still talking, Jeremy's arms strung around the both of them as they carried him home, and Elena had to wonder how Bonnie even had the stamina to do both.

"It's just— you don't even like him, Elena! You know that!"

Before Elena could even respond, Jeremy let out a rather long groan. "Can you stop already? I'd rather not hear about my sister's love life, it's pretty gross."

"We are _helping_ you," Bonnie snapped back at him, "I would suggest you suck it up or at least back me up on the fact that _making out_—,"

Jeremy groaned again but sort of lurched forward this time and soon enough he was throwing up all over the sidewalk and Elena and Bonnie squealed as they jumped out of the way. Elena sighed, throwing her hands up in the air. "Way to go, Bonnie."

"This is not my fault," her friend replied, her arms folded as she cringed at the retching sounds, "he's the one who was trying to impress Matt's sister by chugging a freaking keg."

"_Vicki_?" Elena laughed in surprise, looking to Jeremy who had just made an irritated growl, "Are you serious? What happened to you and Anna?"

"_Shut up_," Jeremy moaned, his head in his hands as he sat down on the curb of the sidewalk, still grossly close to the spot he had thrown up at.

After all of that, Elena was glad to be home. She and Bonnie had managed to smuggle Jeremy up to his bedroom and then Bonnie had left to her Grandma's. Elena had changed into shorts and a tank, ready for bed, but still needed a breath of fresh air. It was starting to cool down now that school had started but she still went out and sat on the porch. It wasn't long before all of her thoughts caught up with her, and she was glad that she had brought her diary so she had some form of outlet now that Bonnie was gone. Writing so fast that it sounded like her pen was scribbling, she let all of the thoughts about Damon pour into her journal until she heard someone step onto the porch. In her emotional haze she hadn't noticed Stefan walk up to her house or onto the lawn at all, and she quickly snapped her journal shut. "You scared me."

Stefan mumbled an apology, looking rather uncomfortable. "I just thought I should drop by so we could talk about what happened—,"

"We don't have to—," Elena began quickly, hoping that they could just pretend that some magical force had erased this whole night, but Stefan shook his head.

"No, we do," he said, shiftily putting his hands into his jacket, "I know I probably gave you the wrong impression when I was complaining about kissing and stuff, but I don't— I don't like you like that, Elena. You're just my friend."

Relief flowed through her at first, even though she had to admit that it still sort of stung in the way that being rejected by anyone did. "That's okay, I don't feel that way about you either."

They were quiet for a few minutes then, an awkward pause ensuing, and Stefan volunteered, "It's not that I don't think you're pretty or anything—,"

"No, I know," she said, smiling even though she didn't feel very happy. "We wouldn't really work together anyway. We'd get along so much that we'd bore each other to death."

"And I'd be so scared of losing you as a friend that I'd hide anything bad," Stefan replied rather quickly for something so deep.

Elena couldn't help but find herself asking, "Is that what you've been doing? Hiding from me because you're scared we won't be able to stay friends?"

He didn't say anything, just stayed leaned up against the porch pillar. She got up from the bench, leaving her journal behind her, and stood closer to him where she could more easily see what he was thinking and feeling. "Come on, Stefan, talk to me."

"It's just—," he began, his brown eyes looking rather forlorn, "I've got a lot of shit going on at home and it's a lot to deal with but you wouldn't understand it. You've got a perfect life. And then it's been weird with you and Lexi and even _more _weird with you and Damon, and I don't know what else to do."

"Well a normal person would try and fix the problems," Elena said, feeling a little angry that he really had been avoiding her about this after everything they had already been through, "but if you want to just stop being friends so we don't stop being friends, then consider it done."

"Elena—," Stefan tried to say, but she picked up her journal and rushed inside the house, making sure to slam the door in his face. She ran up to her bedroom before her parents could say anything, tears falling down.

Why was everything so messed up? It seemed like almost everyone was mad at her now. Bonnie, Stefan, Damon… She had been so completely stupid to kiss Stefan, that was true, but she hadn't really meant anything by it. And how dare Stefan blame her for not having family problems? It wasn't like her life was actually really perfect anyway. She liked someone who was _never_ going to like her back and none of the guys she could replace him with even thought she was cute! She was just boring old Elena with her stupid plain brown hair and ugly brown eyes who couldn't even keep her best friends happy.

* * *

"Hey."

When Damon heard none other than Jeremy Gilbert on the headphones of his Halo live game, he was annoyed. The kid was currently a reminder of the night his sister had kissed Stefan, one of the many memories Damon tried his best to drown out of his mind since it had caused Stefan and Elena to end the symbiosis thing they had going on since childhood. Which also meant that Damon never saw her. "What do you want baby Gilbert?"

"I, uh, well promise you won't make fun of me but—,"

Damon sort of scoffed, and Jeremy trailed off at that. "I know it's been awhile since we've talked but do you _really_ want to start off the conversation that way?"

The younger boy was quiet for a few minutes but didn't hold whatever embarrassing secret he was keeping in longer. "I want to know how you got Vicki Donovan to like you."

Not able to help it even if he wanted to, Damon began laughing. And then he laughed some more. "You. And. Vicki. _Seriously_?"

"Come on, Damon," Jeremy groaned.

"Dude, you can do so much better than her," Damon muttered, still completely amused. He did have to give the kid credit, he seemed determined for someone who was one hundred percent likely to fail miserably. Vicki Donovan wasn't the kind of girl who was just going to fall for some well-adjusted kid that had a stupid crush.

"That's not what I asked you," he snapped, "now come on. How'd you do it? I know she's into younger guys, she follows Tyler Lockwood like a puppy ever since you guys broke up. She's even asking him to the stupid Valentine's Day dance"

Damon felt himself roll his eyes. This couldn't really be happening, right? Elena's little brother asking him for advice on girls? He may have known the family well, but there had to be a line somewhere… "She follows Lockwood around because he and his family are everything that hers are not. Really, not a stellar love choice. Why don't you go out with that Anna chick you always hang around with instead? She's hot. Weird, but hot."

Jeremy groaned again and Damon wondered briefly if that was all the kid knew how to do when faced with irritation. "Because she thinks I'm too immature."

"That's girl code for 'I like you and you're too stupid to realize it', dumbass," Damon responded. He really had to change his user handle if this was the sort of thing he would have to put up with just to play a video-game. Jeremy was a good player and valuable to the team, but there was only so much that Damon could deal with kindly.

"Really?" Jeremy asked, and Damon heard the shift in his voice turn to teasing, "so my sister likes you too, huh?"

Damon turned the Xbox off. He didn't really want to play that much anyway. It had been more than a few months since the last time he had even talked to Elena and it didn't look like that was going to change anytime soon. He knew what she thought of him— could even still hear the words about him being selfish and ignorant of people's feelings— and didn't know if he would ever prove her wrong, or if he even wanted to. Helping Jeremy with girl problems didn't count, she'd never hear about that and even if she did it was likely that she'd still be annoyed by how crass Damon was.

Every time he thought about it, it became more and more annoying. Why was Elena the only person who didn't write him off as irredeemable but still scolded him for not being better? And why did he care about some little girl's opinion of him anyway? She probably just thought she could make him some stupid white knight out of those dumb romantic teen movies. He'd be damned to hell before that would happen.

* * *

Eighth grade graduation came faster than Elena had ever thought it would. She didn't know how time had sped up so much or how easily everything in her life had changed, but things were completely different. She and Stefan were still friendly with each other, but never hung out unless someone else was with them. Bonnie had become her absolute best friend and yet was getting a little more distant now that she and Matt were dating. Other than at town events, Elena had hardly even seen Damon, something that made things both easier and terribly hard. She hadn't expected to still have a crush on him after all this time or at the very least to be perpetually single.

So now after a complete school year had passed and they were about to be thrust into the very scary sounding high school life, Elena wasn't sure what to expect. Harder school work and more tests— that she could handle. Trying out for the cheer squad like her mother wanted her to wouldn't be that hard either; she had already made it into their training camp over the summer. What really scared her when it came down to it was that somehow she would end up even more alone then she already felt in this stupid small town.

She had put on a pretty red dress, one of the school colors of Mystic Falls High. Her mother had even let her wear actual make up instead of just a little mascara. The ceremony hadn't been that long, but now that she was at the after party that Stefan's dad was throwing (Tyler's party was tomorrow and there was a big bet on whose would be better) she felt as tired as if it had dragged on till midnight.

"Why don't you go ask someone to dance?" Bonnie asked her, making Elena feel even more awkward as Bonnie stood with Matt. "I know things have been weird with you and Stefan, but—,"

"I'm not dancing with him," Elena said quickly, sounding more annoyed about it than she actually was, "you two go dance and I'll go get some snacks and punch."

Matt went to say something nice, but Elena walked off before things could get more weird and pitiful. Instead of going to the punch table like she had said she would, she found herself walking instead up the familiar stairs, thinking once more about how much she missed this house and all the memories it held. Out of both curiosity and a weird adrenaline that had overtaken her, she opened the door to Damon's room and hoped that he wasn't making out with Rose or someone. She had to admit she was disappointed when the room was empty.

Despite everything in her brain telling her she was being just a little bit creepy, she went inside the room. It hadn't changed that much, other than the old superhero bed sheets and blankets that were now just soft and black. Posters up on the room were now women in bikinis and old cars instead of Transformers. It made her sad to see that she wasn't the only one that had changed. She wondered if now that they would be going to the same school he would ever talk to her, or if she would still be the stupid little girl who had kissed him that one time.

As she started to walk out of the room she heard someone come down the hall and letting her pride get the best of her, she jumped back into the room and quickly hid in the closet. Wishing more than anything that people wouldn't know she was lying if she had said she had just gotten lost, she listened closely as the person— or maybe it was two people— came into the room. _Of course this was her luck_.

"Look, whether you want to listen to me or not, _you are a good guy_."

It was Rose. That it could only mean one thing…

"Why are we having this conversation again? I distinctly remember coming up here to avoid this exact conversation."

_Damn it_. _Damn, shit—_

"Because you're beating yourself up over some stupid argument that happened months ago for no reason. She was _wrong_ Damon, and I'm sure she knew that. Anyone who actually knows you realizes you're vulnerable as hell."

"I am _not_ **_vulnerable_**," he spat with disgust, and Elena didn't have to see his face to know exactly what expression he had on his face. "And I do not have enough alcohol in the house for this, so I'd appreciate it if you chose to stop and just make out."

Was he really drinking? Elena wondered. He may have been sixteen and, well, Damon, but she had really thought that he'd avoid it after everything with his father. Luckily for Elena, Rose didn't seem like she wanted to make out with him at all right now, instead continuing whatever argument had begun downstairs.

"You almost beat up the mayor for hitting Tyler at the Founder's party even though you don't even like him—,"

"You're bringing _that_ up, _really_? I just didn't want Stefan around that douche."

Elena felt her throat tighten, and she wondered if he had told Rose everything that had happened with his own father. She felt a little shocked hearing about the Mayor, but couldn't really focus on Tyler when she was stuck in a room with Damon and Rose and they could start making out any minute and she'd be forced to listen. Although maybe she'd be better off just getting caught at that point…

"Then how do you explain helping out Jeremy all the time? Or trying over and over to get Stefan to be friends with Elena again because you think she's lonely."

"That's not what I— she can handle herself," Damon snapped, sounding really flustered. Elena thought she might explode with how curious she was and how awkward it was to listen in on a conversation that was quickly becoming more and more about her.

"Just admit that—,"

It was too much. Before Rose could even finish her sentence Elena burst out of the closet and didn't even glance at them before running out of the room. Her entire skin was on fire with how completely embarrassed she was and she desperately hoped that Rose or Damon wouldn't say anything to the people at the party because there was only so much that she could handle without bursting into tears.

Right as she reached the staircase to go back down, however, Damon caught her arm. She turned around and tried to figure out if he was more angry or confused, but started talking when she couldn't tell right away. "I'm so sorry, I was just hiding from Bonnie and Matt because they were being all couple-y and then I heard someone and I didn't want to be caught in your room 'cause they might get the wrong idea and—,"

"It's okay," he said, so simply that she was caught completely off guard.

"You're not going to make fun of me?" she asked, looking up at him as he stared at her.

"No," he said, a small smile coming to his face, "I really can't blame you. Your friends make a really disgusting couple."

Elena laughed despite herself, and then felt almost immediately bad for it. Whether Matt and Bonnie did tend to go a little overboard on the PDA thing, it wasn't exactly their fault. They just really liked each other. Elena had to admit if she had a boyfriend she'd probably be the same way… "Yeah, well, it's my fault for not finding other friends I guess."

"That's completely true," he said with a smirk, and then shocked her more than anything else this evening had and asked, "Did you want to dance?"

"Sure," she said, finding herself agreeing even though she knew Bonnie would have something to say about it.

He placed a hand on her back as they walked downstairs, making her feel like she might melt, and as soon as they mixed in with the crowd he took her hand and put his other on her waist. She was a little surprised at how well he could dance, even though maybe she shouldn't have been considering it was Mystic Falls. He was watching her closely, and she found herself too scared to look back. "What Rose was saying… about you being upset about a fight that you had months ago…"

"Don't worry about it, Elena," he said, tensing up. It was so weird being able to feel his arms through his long sleeve shirt…

"I know it's probably not about me, but I want you to know that what I said the last time we talked was awful, and I'm sorry," she said, hoping that he wouldn't walk off or stop dancing with her. He didn't, though, the only change in his demeanor being that he was watching her more closely. "I was upset about other things and I took it out on you."

"I suppose I can forgive you. I'd be upset if I kissed Stefan too," he said dryly in response.

She only smiled, wishing that she had the guts to explain how she had just been so jealous of Lexi and everyone that he had made out with, but she didn't. Not when he was being so incredibly perfect right now and she hadn't talked to him in so long. She had missed him, and she wasn't about to ruin this by talking about feelings that even if returned wouldn't do much good. She knew Damon well enough to know that.

Finally, after soaking up the feeling of dancing with him one more time, she asked, "Do you really think I'm lonely?"

"I think," he started, "that you're just as tired of Mystic Falls as I am. But unlike me, you'll probably get over it."

"Why is that?" she asked. It was so bizarre how he could always see right through her like this with such clarity that no one else seemed to come close to. No one else had realized she wasn't the same lately or that it really didn't have much to do with Stefan or Bonnie and Matt— she was just ready to move on and still stuck here for at least another four years.

"Because you have your family here," he replied, "and nothing means more to you than that. You went through your early teen emo phase like everyone does and now you'll end up being the star of this whole town."

She shook her head, happy that he believed so much from her but also sad because everything he described was the opposite of what he wanted for himself. "I want more out of life than that, Damon. We're not that different."

He only smiled. She wondered, despite all the protest that she truly did feel, if he was right. Was she going to end up being the same cheerleader/prom queen/Miss Mystic Falls that her parents wanted to be? Would she settle for going to a nearby college so she didn't have to be too far from her family and all the town events, or some stupid high school boyfriend? What if she got married not long after high school and ended up staying here and teaching elementary school or high school English?

Everything in her wanted to say that she would do more than that. But when it came down to it… she wasn't sure if she'd be able to fight it.

High school wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed the little scene at the end. Coming up, FRESHMAN YEAR. Elena joins the cheerleaders and Damon pulls a prank on his little freshman brother. I probably won't have a lot for this year because I want to focus more on the last three years of Elena's high school career, but things are about to get interesting. Get ready for even more teen hormones and romantic drama. :)**

**And once again, thank you so much for reading this. I love you guys for all the feedback you give and the interest you have. 3**


	10. Freshmen and Flirting

**A/N: What? I'm updating sooner than a month? And it's still a normal size chapter? :O The world must be ending! ;)**

** Haha, had fun writing this, so hopefully you'll have fun reading it. I'm going to do one more chapter of the highlights of freshman year (maybe two, not certain) and then I'll slow down and cover a lot more of Sophomore and Junior year. **

**Have fun reading!**

**P.S. I know that Mason Lockwood is technically supposed to be quite a bit older than Tyler and Elena, but there's really not a lot of canon characters to play around with in Mystic Falls, so please forgive me for putting him in the grade above with Damon, Lexi, Rose, and Vicki.**

* * *

"It's the first day of school and a brand new day for the class of 2012! Welcome, freshman!"

Elena smiled at the intercom announcement even though the student council president that had spoken sounded far too perky. She wasn't fooled in the slightest, all the banners and balloons weren't for the underclassmen like her; they were for the seniors. That was okay with her though. As much as she didn't necessarily like school, she still wasn't ready for it all to be over just yet. Not when she had dances and driver's ed and dating to look forward to the next few years.

She was wearing her cheer uniform on the first day like the rest of the team, giving her the sort of automatic popularity and protection that a freshman like her needed. She didn't need to search the halls in desperation for middle school friends; she already had people wave and introduce themselves without her saying a word. She had originally arrived a little early to decorate her locker and now that she was finally done she arranged her books and checked her make up one last time before she felt someone standing behind her. One glance from her mirror told her exactly who it was, and she turned with a smile as she coyly greeted, "Damon."

"Elena," he replied, eyeing her and her uniform in a way that made her embarrassed instead of proud. "I see you decided to go with cliche."

"If you're just going to be a jerk, you can leave," she sighed, thinking that she should have known better. They may have been on better terms, but the first rule of their friendship had always been to call each other out. He would know that as much as she wanted to make new friends, she still wasn't that outgoing of a person. Liking everyone didn't mean she wanted to be around everyone all the time. Still, her mother had wanted her to do some after-school activity and this one had seemed like the most entertaining at the time.

"Oh, come on," he said, rolling his eyes and leaning his back against the lockers so he was closer to her. "As good as that outfit looks on you, you are the last person who should be a cheerleader."

She slammed her locker shut and turned so that she could glare at him fully and show him that the compliment had no effect on her. (It didn't, right?) Was he seriously doing this on her very first day? "Why is that?"

"You're smart, for one," Damon replied, but before he could continue his list Stefan had come up to them. Elena felt a little awkward seeing him, but he gave her a friendly smile that made her feel better. Damon quickly jumped on the opportunity for some back up, making her feel even more out of place. "Hello brother, why don't you tell Elena that she's not cut out for cheer-leading?"

"I think," Stefan said, giving Elena a small glance, "that she can be whatever she wants, and you're just mad I got on the football team too."

Elena couldn't help but laugh at that, giving Damon a completely incredulous look that he must not have appreciated from his expression. "_You're_ playing a team sport? _You_?"

"Don't act so surprised," he snapped back moodily, "it happens to fit in my plan of taking out my pent up aggression on idiots and winning over girls. _You're_ just trying to blend in."

She was about to tell Damon that she was _not_ just trying to fit in and that she actually liked the exercise and team spirit, but Mason Lockwood had come up to them and Damon was busy shooting him a disgusted look. Mason didn't seem to care, instead clapping Stefan on the back as he said, "Welcome to the team, man! Heard coach wants you as quarterback! You must have one hell of an arm."

"I'm alright," Stefan mumbled politely, looking as though he knew his brother was only a few minutes away from saying something snarky and stupid.

"What position do you play?" Elena asked him, hoping to defuse the situation and he turned to her with a wide grin. While she had seen him around town all the time she had never actually talked to him that long. She had to admit, even with Damon standing next to her, that he was pretty cute. Nothing seemed to bother him either, other than Damon, but Damon could get under anyone's skin.

"Middle linebacker. You're Elena Gilbert, right? Tyler's mentioned you a few times but he left out the part about you being cute."

She laughed and smiled back, not missing the fact that Damon was looking at her as if she had decided to talk to Hitler instead of his teammate. Stefan was smirking at the three of them, and finally she just told Mason, "Thank you."

"Yeah, no problem. Well see you guys at practice, we're all on the same field. Later."

And then he left, and Elena felt rather bubbly despite the fact that as soon as he was far enough away Damon hit the still grinning Stefan in the back of the head. "We do _not_ talk to Lockwoods, Stefan. And what's with you _flirting_ with him?"

"You are not dragging me into your stupid family feud, Damon," Elena replied, rolling her eyes. "You're both rich and pretty, get over it."

Stefan chuckled at that, adding, "Yeah Damon, I mean don't you think it's a little old? You've hated this guy since elementary school, it's about time to let it go."

Damon glared at both of them equally, before settling on Elena. She felt herself tense up, not wanting him to say something really mean about her flirting with the first guy to pay attention to her, but all he said was, "He just likes you 'cause of your uniform."

And then he walked off, making Elena feel a little deflated. Stefan still stood with her though and rolled his eyes, offering some comforting words of, "Mason's not actually that shallow, don't worry. I've hung out with him a few times with Tyler and Matt. Damon's one to talk anyway."

"He seemed really nice," Elena said, unsure where this was going and not willing to talk with Stefan about guys she liked just yet. "So… you and me. Are we…?"

"Friends again?" Stefan asked, looking guilty, "I'd like to be. I know I was an ass last year, but it's been kind of lonely without you. Matt and Bonnie spent like all summer together and then Tyler can be…"

"A guy?" she offered with a laugh, "and I know what you mean… What are we going to do about those two? I never even thought they'd last this long."

"I don't know, they're pretty similar. They're both practical and hard-working and not fans of Damon... although Damon really didn't help his case when he stole Matt's phone and saved Bonnie's number under some different name," Stefan told her, looking both annoyed and amused at his brother's antics.

Elena shook her head with a laugh and then the bell rang. She smiled at Stefan, trying to hold back, but he gave her a knowing look and she allowed herself to give in and hug him before rushing off to class. So far her day had gone pretty good, she thought. So what if Damon thought she was being stupid, Mason Lockwood had flirted with her and he was a hot sophomore on the football team. Not to mention her and Stefan were friends again. Two out of three wasn't that bad, right?

* * *

She hadn't thought that lunch would be that bad, but as she entered the cafeteria it was clear that cliques and groups had already been made. She caught sight of Stefan, who was with Lexi, Tyler, and Mason. Bonnie and Matt were currently walking over to that group as well. There were a group of older cheerleaders that smiled when she looked their way. She found herself searching for Damon, but only found Rose in the crowd. After more than a few minutes of debating on whether or not she should go up to Rose and introduce herself, Matt called her over and she felt herself walk over to the table where Mason was grinning instead.

"So have you all survived the first day without being pranked?" Lexi asked, looking amused. Elena didn't bother answering, still not completely over her old feelings of hatred for the girl.

"Lucky so far," Matt said, with a smile. "It helps having an older sibling."

"Speak for yourself," Stefan said, stabbing his salad with his fork.

Elena smiled, sharing a glance with him. While the others could guess what he meant, none of them knew Damon like Stefan and she did. She wondered if he had noticed that Damon was missing from lunch as well, but if he did he didn't say anything. Tyler started talking about football plays with Matt and Stefan and instead of joining them, Mason turned Elena. "So, what do you like to do besides cheer-leading? Ever been surfing?"

"No," she responded, "but I used to water-ski at the lake house sometimes and that was fun."

"Nice," he said with the same super white grin. Surfing must have been where he had gotten his skin tanned so nicely, she thought. Part of her was surprised to see that even though they weren't quite as piercing as Damon's, Mason did have light blue eyes as well.

She was about to respond, but before she could the intercom turned on and they heard none other than Damon's voice say hello. Stefan looked immediately wary and slightly terrified, and it seemed with good cause too, as Damon announced, **_"From the pages of Stefan Salvatore's diary, a short story._**"

"Oh my god," he said, burying his head in his hands, "I'm going to kill him."

People started looking around very quickly and even though Stefan was already clearly embarrassed, Matt and Tyler were grinning despite themselves or any friendship. Elena was finding it hard to stop a grin from forming on her lips as well, so she focused on eating the burger she had gotten for lunch instead, hoping that she would appear completely neutral. She really would hate to mess up their friendship the same day that it started.

**_"It took more gel than usual to spike my hair today. I wonder if it's because I'm in such a terrible mood that even my hair feels sad—,"_**

"Says the guy who straightens his," Lexi snapped, rolling her eyes. Both she and Bonnie looked upset for Stefan. Elena was trying her hardest not to choke on her burger. She tried over and over to tell herself that it wasn't that funny, but it didn't help. After a year of not being close to Stefan it was hard not to laugh at all the things she had secretly made fun of in her head.

_**"—it's probably sad because I'm in love with my best friend Lexi who doesn't think I'm hot because she's older than me and had too much fun making out with my hot older brother—,"**_

And just as easily as it had started, any alliance with Damon that she had formed vanished. It was one thing to make fun of him, but dragging Stefan's actual feelings into a prank this big wasn't fair in the slightest. Even if it did piss off Lexi. Stefan sunk further down on the lunch table, hiding his head in his arms now.

Luckily there was a shuffle of noises and the intercom was shut off after some threats and yelling by Principal Fell about the proper uses of the school announcement service. Students in the cafeteria started an uproar of laughter, and people were standing up to see if they could find Stefan in the crowd. Matt and Tyler were laughing as well as clapping and Stefan only now resurfaced with a very vengeful look on his face.

A few minutes later, Damon appeared in the doorway of the cafeteria to be greeted by a round of applause (Rose was rolling her eyes in a corner, Elena noted). Stefan looked like he was debating what exactly his plan of attack was but Lexi got up from the table first and stormed in Damon's direction. Stefan quickly got up after her, almost tripping as he got out of his seat, and Elena watched with held breath as Lexi reached Damon, who simply folded his arms and smirked at her. She was sure that the girl was going to slap him across the face, or maybe even deck him, but instead she turned around once Stefan was behind her and locked lips with him.

Matt catcalled, Tyler whistled, and Bonnie simply rolled her eyes as she giggled with Elena. If the cafeteria had been loud before, now it was deafening. Damon put on a good show of looking bothered as he stormed off to go sit with Rose, but watching closely... Elena wasn't fooled. There was no way Damon would have submitted Stefan to complete school ridicule when the Salvatore name was involved. She didn't know how he had planned it so perfectly, but she knew for certain that Damon had just made his brother the coolest freshman to grace the halls of Mystic Falls on purpose.

* * *

The next few weeks of high school went by fast due to homework and school and practice, but there was one thing that made it feel like it was dragging on forever. Somehow without realizing it, she had fallen into a pattern. Every morning, Damon would meet her at her locker sometimes to flirt or tease or scold her for still being on the cheer team. Then she'd go to English, History, and Creative Writing. And then, at lunch, she'd sit with the group and Mason would flirt with her the whole time. After that she had Geometry, Foods, and Chemistry and then she would go to the lockers to get changed for cheer practice. It was generally a 50/50 chance after that whether Mason or Damon would come up to her first. It was driving her absolutely insane.

"Eventually one of them will ask you out," Bonnie said sagely after practice in the locker room one day, "I'm surprised it hasn't happened already."

"I don't want to go out with _either _of them, Bonnie," Elena whined, putting her hair back up in a ponytail. When she was done she saw the look her friend was giving her and rolled her eyes, "Okay, fine, maybe I wouldn't totally hate it, but you know as soon as it happens the other one is going to hate me. I refuse to be part of their stupid war."

"Then pick Tyler. That'll get them to leave you alone," Bonnie said, sounding a little more sarcastic than usual. Maybe she was being annoying, but Elena didn't have anyone else to talk about this to and it was really bothering her. It wasn't her fault she didn't have a boyfriend like Matt, at least not in ways that she could really help.

"I'd rather become lesbian, thanks," Elena sighed. That earned her looks from the girls around her, and she inwardly cringed. She was hanging out with Damon too much, apparently…

"It could be worse, you know," Bonnie replied, "they could both be really ugly."

"Well at least that choice would be easy." Elena snapped back.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and shook her head. Elena finished stuffing her outfit back in her duffle bag and took another swig of water from her bottle before heading out, Bonnie in tow. She felt the irritation fold into insecurity once they weren't surrounded by their team, and once they were alone and waiting on the sidewalk for their rides she found herself asking her best friend, "Why do you like dating Matt?"

Her friend gave a heavy sort of sigh before smiling a little, "Elena, if you're asking because you want me to tell you who to choose..."

"No, that's not it," she said, quickly shaking her head, "I just don't get the whole dating thing. What's so special about having a boyfriend anyway?"

"I mean... I guess it's just nice to have someone who really understands me. Not that you don't, but Matt gets the whole crappy absent Mom thing and he's really focused on his goals which helps me focus on mine. He's just always there for me. I can't really explain it," she said, shrugging.

Elena frowned and looked away. Damon definitely understood her and challenged her, but she wasn't sure if she could ever trust him enough to depend on him like that... "But what about if you guys break up? Aren't you scared?"

"It would suck," she admitted, "but I'd get over it."

_Oh,_ Elena thought miserably. She knew that there was a difference between fairy-tale romance and real life, she really did, but it seemed like that was such an indifferent answer. If she and Damon ever dated, which was unlikely to actually happen no matter what Bonnie said, breaking up wouldn't just suck— it would _hurt_. Just the idea of it was painful.

Her mother pulled up before Bonnie could question Elena's sudden uncomfortable silence, and she mumbled a goodbye before quickly jumping in the car. What was she supposed to do? Should she just go out with Mason because he was nice and someone that wouldn't ever really hurt her? Or should she just continue flirting with Damon even though they both knew it would end terribly? As much as Elena wanted to be the kind of girl that could just kiss and make out with him like it was nothing, she very much wasn't. And Damon having an actual girlfriend? That was almost laughable. Right?

"How was practice, honey?" her mom asked.

"It was fine," she replied shortly, staring out the window instead of looking over. "I was on top of the pyramid today."

"Okay..." her mother replied slowly, "then what happened after that put that storm cloud over your head?"

Elena glanced over at her mom, who had a brow raised in her direction. It would have been nice to have some peace instead of questions, but she groaned and replied, "Nothing really."

"Really?" her mom asked with a laugh, "that's the answer you're going with? I thought I'd get more from the daughter who was getting a cellphone today."

"_What?!_" Elena exclaimed, no longer able to focus on something so silly as guys liking her or not.

Pulling into the town parking lot, her mother nodded and smiled. "I managed to convince your dad to reconsider his extension. You need one now with school activities and your friends, whether or not he wants you to wait till you're sixteen. Now, fess up. What's bothering you?"

_Here it goes,_ she thought to herself as she tried to come up with the vaguest explanation possible, "These two guys at school like me and I'm afraid of choosing between them."

Instead of telling her just to focus on schoolwork or even asking who the boys were, her mother simply pursed her lips and thought for a moment. Elena appreciated being treated this way, like it was okay for her to feel this way and it didn't make her some dumb little girl. "I don't know, sweetie. I've known you your whole life and you've never had problems with knowing what you want. You just have trouble admitting what you've decided, especially when you're scared."

"I'm not scared," Elena pouted, "I just—,"

But there wasn't any justification or explanation that she could give that would really make her case. Her mother smiled, but didn't press the issue any further. "Come on, honey. Let's get going so we can be done before dinner."

Elena nodded and jumped out of the car, a weird mixture of excitement mixing in with her sadness. She walked right in step with her mom, trying not to rush into the phone store before her, at least until her mother leaned over and playfully whispered, "So after Bonnie and your family, who will you give your number to?"

_Mothers_.

* * *

**Let me know what you thought!**


	11. Bourbon and Boyfriends

**A/N: Okay, so here's the deal. This was supposed to be a small arc and the last chapter before Elena's sophomore year but then a plot twist in the form of a character appeared in my brain and I just couldn't shake it. That means two things. One, that you'll have to deal with a few more chapters of Elena's freshman year and Two, that from this point, THIS STORY IS NO LONGER TIHIL COMPATIBLE. I don't think that many of you have even read TIHIL (and if you had it's getting a reboot soon) so it shouldn't be that big of a deal. **

**Now without further ado, I know you guys will have a lot of fun with who shows up... so please enjoy. :D**

* * *

Damon Salvatore had an extremely big problem. Well actually he had quite a few more than just one, but he was prioritizing. And actually his problem wasn't big, per se, as much as a ninety pound package of sass and goodness wrapped inside a cheerleader uniform. He knew damn well that Mason Lockwood had targeted Elena to get back at him for last year when Damon had made his life hell. (It wasn't really Damon's fault that the guy picked slutty girlfriends though, in his opinion.) Even Rose had admitted it looked extremely suspicious considering Mason was usually the guy who went for the older indie girls that liked the whole surfer image.

He knew that if he told Elena that Mason was just using her, it would not only backfire but make him look like a jealous asshole. More than he already did, at least, which Rose liked to remind him was getting worse every day. So Damon had tried counteracting it by flirting with Elena himself in the hopes that if he kept her distracted Mason would get bored and move on to some different tactic like getting him kicked off the football team. The problem with _that_ however, was that flirting with Elena was not a tactical maneuver that he could keep up. He couldn't talk with her like that _every freaking day_ and not be sorely tempted to kiss her or make her his. It was impossible. So perhaps the real problem, when it came down to it, was that Damon couldn't ask Elena out.

It would be a stupid thing to do, after all. She was a freshman in high school, not even turning fifteen until the end of the school year, and he wasn't much older. There was no way that they'd be able to stay together through high school and then college and on. They were passionate people that got easily bored. It wouldn't work. Right? And what if they didn't get bored, but they just ended up hating each other due to their very different personalities? Wouldn't that be even worse?

"Why does Mr. Tanner have to teach freshman, sophomore, _and_ junior history?" Elena whined to him as she slammed the book back into her locker, "I mean he's such a complete _jerk_ and I can't even escape him for another two—,"

"Calm down, princess," he said despite fully agreeing with her, "why don't you think about happier things, like the fact that we have our first game next week?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, definitely, I'm so excited to be in front of a huge crowd that will torture me forever if I mess up."

Damon sighed, not sure where exactly her mood was coming from. He reached above her and shut the locker door that she was using to check her make-up, making the distance between them extremely small when she turned around to glare at him. _Don't kiss her_. "You'll do great, Elena. What's really bothering you?"

"Nothing—," she stammered, looking up at him with irritated eyes as she nervously bit her lip, "I mean _you_, Damon."

"Me?" he asked, some derision slipping into his surprise. Was he really surprised though? He had known that flirting with her like this would only last so long before she would explode on him. He had hoped that it wouldn't be in the very public halls of the high school though, especially considering they were both popular enough to garner attention.

"Yes," she snapped, "you. What do you think you're playing at, Damon? I like being friends with you, but the past few weeks all you've been doing is making little comments and touching me and doing that _eye thing_ you do—,"

"What _eye thing_?" he demanded, too incensed to care that a private argument was becoming less and less private by the minute. Was she seriously angry that he had flirted with her? It's not like she was dating someone, he was perfectly allowed to flirt with her until she told him to stop. _Which she hadn't_, by the way, so what was her problem now?

It was at this point that he noticed Stefan further down the hall through the crowd, but Elena interrupted his thoughts as she argued, "Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Just because I became a cheerleader doesn't mean you can flirt with me like you do every other girl you come across."

"_Seriously_?" he half-yelled, five seconds away from grabbing her arm and dragging her into an empty classroom.

"What's going on?" Stefan demanded as he reached them finally, causing the crowd of people to leave as he gave them all a judging glare before turning back to Damon and Elena. "I thought you guys were getting along."

"Apparently too well for Miss High and Mighty over here," he snapped, glaring at the girl who had her eyes narrowed and jaw set stubbornly. She only shook her head after making a disgusted scoff and left. Damon felt himself fume, thinking that he was going to have to ditch practice today if he wanted to avoid an early arrest for killing a teammate. If he found out that Mason had said something or that they were dating...

"Damon," Stefan said, catching his brother's attention, "what happened?"

"She got all pissy out of nowhere!" he exclaimed, making Stefan raise an eyebrow suspiciously, "and then started yelling at me for having flirted with her. You'd think I asked her to have sex with me in the locker room."

His brother gave a rather heavy, long sigh before looking up at the ceiling. Damon felt rather chastised which didn't bode well with his rebellious attitude. "Look, Damon, there were a lot of reasons that Elena and I weren't friends last year but I'm not going to lie and pretend you weren't one of them. She's been my _best friend_ for forever but I wasn't going to pick her over you and I knew that if you guys got together back then it would fail."

Guilt found a small hole in his chest as he stood, watching his brother. He had never considered exactly why Elena and Stefan had fallen out their eighth grade year, always figuring that it had to do with Lexi and nothing else. I mean it had seemed pretty obvious that Elena was half in love with Stefan and he hadn't liked her back… "What are you getting at, Stefan?"

"If you like her then you better be sure as hell that you're a hundred percent ready because I don't want to lose her again over you. Not if I don't have to."

But the way Stefan was talking… the way Stefan was talking made it sound like Elena had a crush on Damon. Which didn't make sense. I mean sure, Jeremy had teased him about it, but Damon had never taken her little brother seriously. Why would Jeremy know anything about who she liked? And maybe… well maybe it would make sense that she would be mad at him after the whole bikini and Lexi debacle, but why not say anything at the stupid eighth grade graduation party for Stefan? She had to have realized that he liked her after catching his and Rose's conversation. "But she doesn't even _like_ me!"

Stefan's face fell for a moment, as if he was completely frustrated, but then his younger brother started chuckling. "Oh my god, Damon. You're not seriously telling me that _you_ of all people haven't noticed? You spend more time with girls than I spend asleep and you really didn't catch a hint? There wasn't the slightest bit of suspicion?"

"She thinks I'm an asshole!"

"You are, half the time," Stefan laughed, shaking his head, "but considering she's like the one person you let see the good side of you besides me, I think she accepted it."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Damon replied, shaking his head. There was _no way_ he hadn't figured out Elena liked him like that before Stefan. It was probably just some big huge prank to get him back for the whole intercom-Lexi thing. "However I'm going to be late to class, so I'll talk to you later."

Stefan rolled his eyes and gave a half-wave as Damon stormed off. He did briefly consider going to class, but then he realized he didn't give a shit about Chemistry at a time like this and started making his way to the exit. She didn't like him. Why would she like him? They were _completely_ different. He was the type of guy who was likely to end up in jail before he hit thirty, she was the type of girl who was going to end up on the judge's panel for Miss Mystic Falls. Even if Damon _wanted_ to clean up his act, which he didn't by the way, there was still no way that he and Elena would work out. She was obviously just romanticizing the whole thing.

"Salvatore! Why aren't you in a classroom?"

_Shit_. In his existential crisis he hadn't bothered to watch where he was going and had walked right by the principal's office. He turned to see Principal Fell glaring at him, probably still angry over the intercom battle.

"I needed to pick up reading material from the library?" Damon replied cheekily, stopping in the hall.

"Get in my office," the man snapped, and Damon rolled his eyes before following orders and going through the office door. After his freshman year, well actually his _whole_ school career, the novelty of being punished had long worn off. Now it was more fun to see _how much_ he could get in trouble without being expelled.

"Hello, Marge," Damon greeted the secretary with a wink, who gave a knowing chuckle, "how's my favorite lady doing today?"

Principal Fell pushed him forward with a hand on his back, making Damon laugh as he was forced to walk faster into the office. The first thing he noticed was that it was already occupied, but before he could ask Fell who the person was one of the secretaries got his attention and the door was shut. Damon wondered at how stupid some people could be, and quickly headed for the principal's chair so he could more comfortably rifle through the entire desk. "What are you in for?"

"Sneaking a flask in," the sandy-haired guy replied, raising an eyebrow as Damon plopped himself into the comfortable office chair on the other side of the desk and opened the first drawer. "You?"

"Fell just likes seeing my beautiful face," he replied, raising an eyebrow at the flask on the desk. He picked it up, quite sad to see that it was empty when he opened it. It smelled like whiskey. "Who sneaks a _flask_ into school anyway? Were you _trying _to get caught? Use a colored water bottle like a normal person."

"I'll keep that in mind," the kid replied dryly, rolling his eyes. He was about the same age as Damon, although it looked like he was able to grow the scruff that Damon still couldn't. Also he was wearing the same sort of black button down shirt as Damon, which was a little weird.

"What's your name? I haven't seen you before."

"Alaric," was the reply, "but most people call me Rick."

Damon sort of scoffed at the weird name, saying, "I'm sure they do. So what's your story, Rick? Sixteen year old with a drinking problem is my area of expertise."

He could tell that the guy didn't like him that much. It didn't really bother Damon. Most guys didn't like him. Whether that was because he was overconfident and slightly aggressive or because he got all the chicks to sleep with him was still yet to be determined. Alaric set his jaw in a defying manner that Damon both recognized and respected, replying with a challenging tone, "I moved here because my mom died and my Dad bailed. What about you?"

"I—," he started, impulsively deciding halfway through not to just give a bullshit answer, "same, really. My Dad's still technically around, but that's just 'cause CPS decided he was too pathetic to be truly dangerous. I'm sorry about your mom."

Alaric nodded once, looking a little less like he would punch Damon for saying the wrong word. Before they could talk anymore, Principal Fell came back into the office, immediately yelling, "Get the hell out of my chair, Salvatore."

Damon grinned at Alaric and quickly switched chairs. Alaric rolled his eyes, but Damon would have sworn that he saw the slightest curl of lips. Fell, however, did not seem entertained at all. "Look, Alaric, I realize that you're new to the school and there's a lot of pressure to fit in—,"

"Does it really look like he wants to fit in?" Damon asked with a scoff, "I mean, granted he has great fashion sense, but Rick here seems a little deeper than that to me."

Winding up Fell really had to be one of the easiest ways to let off some steam, Damon thought as the principal snapped, "Do you _want_ to be kicked off the football team, Salvatore? Mr. Tanner might think you're good at defense, but—,"

Alaric had already laughed though, interrupting Fell and entertaining Damon as he derisively asked, "_You're_ on the football team?"

"Apparently not for long," he said with a wink toward Fell, "that's alright though, I think my career opportunities lie elsewhere."

"OUT, both of you," Fell finally shouted when on top of everything his phone started ringing. Neither Alaric nor Damon needed to be told twice, both boys quickly getting up from their chairs and exiting the office. Damon made sure to wave at Marge as he left and Alaric scoffed once more.

"See ya," Alaric said as he started to leave.

Damon was watching him, standing still and debating on whether he really wanted to trust this guy or not, but finally he said, "Hey, wait. Follow me."

The guy turned and raised an eyebrow at him. Damon only waved forward as he walked down the hall. He was going to regret this, he was sure of it, and then Rose would kick his ass for ruining their one perfect spot so far. Alaric seemed intrigued despite himself and did end up following until finally they reached the end of the lockers and Damon turned around with a serious expression on his face. He set his jaw, still not completely sure, but finally narrowed his eyes as he said, "Only one other person knows about this, so if you ruin it I will hunt you down and make your life hell. Got it?"

Alaric nodded with a shrug, looking even more curious now, and Damon gave a sigh before hitting locker number 42 with his fist. Its door popped open, revealing a bottle of bourbon, to which Alaric whistled and moved forward to shield it from view. "You drink the good stuff, huh?"

"Yes," Damon replied, "we rotate who buys the next bottle, although if you drink more than half it's automatically your turn next time. If you tell anyone else—,"

"Who the hell am I going to tell?" he asked, looking so sincere that Damon almost wanted to laugh out of empathy.

Instead he grinned. "That's the spirit, Ric."

* * *

"Hello, Elena. Let's talk."

Elena barely believed that she was this completely unlucky today as she changed into her cheerleader uniform after school in the locker room. It seemed that Rose had heard about her and Damon's fight this morning and the girl who had previously been nice to her but didn't usually talk to her other than that had broken their code of silence. Elena was slightly surprised to see that it had warranted Rose stalking her all the way to the gym. Rose was the last person to be a cheerleader, and the looks on the other girls' faces showed that.

"Can it wait?"

"No," Rose said with a smile that looked just a little threatening. That was the thing about Rose, Elena thought, while she seemed perfectly nice and friendly, you knew there had to be a reason that she was the only girl here that Damon respected and was slightly afraid of. She gave Bonnie a look and Bonnie gave a small look in return.

She wasn't about to sigh and offend the girl, so she grudgingly followed her out into the empty hallway. The awkwardness of the situation got a hold of her, and she sort of half folded her arms in defense and hoped that Rose wasn't about to yell at her for bugging Damon or something, but all Rose said was, "First of all, I don't know what all you've heard about me from Damon and Stefan or anyone else, really, but I am the last person you should be jealous of."

"I—what are you talking about?" she asked stubbornly, unsure how else to reply and caught completely off guard. Wasn't Rose supposed to hate her? Elena knew Damon had a casual sort of romantic relationship with her, the whole school knew that. There were several rumors going around about all the places the two had done it in the school already, much to Elena's complete distaste.

"I think you know," Rose said wisely, "I know he's Damon, so it's impossible to tell sometimes, but he really does like you. You two are perfect for each other even though you won't admit it."

"We aren't—I mean, I don't even—," she began, then stopped as Rose smirked and reluctantly asked, "do you really think so?"

The girl smiled, quickly saying, "A hundred times yes. You're the only person I think he's ever met that has a complete effect on him."

Elena shook her head, not ready to believe that when it seemed that _every_ attractive girl he came across had an _effect_ on him. "I don't think that's true, I mean you're the one that's actually friends with him."

"Exactly, and that's why _I_ know when he's being an ignorant ass," she replied with a grin, "honestly, he and I are just friends. I respect myself enough to know that and be perfectly okay with it unlike the rest of the girls he has fun with. But you're different. He cares about you, Elena, to the point where he's probably going to make a complete mess of things because he's not used to caring that much. I'm not asking you to confess your love for him or even to date him but promise me you won't give up on him, alright? Please?"

"I won't," Elena said softly. "You're a good friend, Rose. I'm glad he has you."

She simply smirked in response, shaking her head as she laughed, "And you're a good person. I can tell you mean that, even if I'm sure you've previously plotted my demise several times. I'll see you around."

And so she left, and Elena ran back into the locker room, hoping she wasn't too late. All the girls had already gone to the field and so Elena quickly ran out after them, trying not to over-analyze what had just happened. Bonnie gave her a curious look as she ran onto the side of the field and over to the practicing squad and quickly started stretching. It took every ounce of self-control she had to force herself not to look over where she knew Damon was practicing and she might have spent just a few minutes longer stretching just in case he was looking.

She had no idea what she was going to do now. It wasn't like she could just go out with Mason, assuming he was even ever going to ask her. But it also wasn't like Damon was going to ask her out anytime soon either. Just because she had the best friend seal of approval didn't mean that Damon was anywhere near sorting out all of his issues when it came to feelings… Still, it seemed so stupid to just sit and wait for him to come around; she had always refused to be that person in the past. No wonder Rose had made her promise not to give up…

As soon as practice was over, Elena bolted past Bonnie— she was going to have to explain _a lot_ later— and toward Damon, but she was supremely frustrated when Mason stopped her. "Hey, Elena."

"Hey," she said, not too kindly as she watched Damon talk to Stefan further across the field, "great job. I'll talk to you later, I just need to—,"

"Can I ask you something really quick?"

_You have got to be kidding me_, she thought to herself, _why now?!_ "Um sure, Mason, just make it quick."

"Do you want to go out sometime?" he asked, and she stopped looking for Damon almost immediately. Did he really just ask her that? "Like to a movie or something?"

"I don't know," she said slowly, completely freaking out as she looked at his innocent looking blue eyes. Somehow she could feel that Damon's eyes were on her now. They always found her in her worst moments.

Mason grinned a little clumsily, "Come on, just one date. That's all I'm asking. You don't even have to put it on Facebook."

"Okay," she answered, her stomach sinking into the stupid fake grass of the field. Going on a date with someone else wasn't giving up, right? I mean she still had feelings for Damon, and it wasn't like _he_ was ignoring all female attention just because he liked her. "Just one."

"Great!" he said with enthusiasm that she just didn't feel, "I'll text you the details, okay? See you later."

And then he left and Elena was able to see that Damon was indeed staring at her from the other side of the field with Stefan, who was talking to Tyler and Matt. She walked over to the four of them, hoping that they hadn't heard anything despite them being too far away to have heard a single thing, but Damon ended up meeting her halfway instead.

"What did Mason want?" he asked, such an irritated sound in voice that she automatically bristled.

"I'm sorry we fought too," she snapped back at him sarcastically, too unnerved by all of the overwhelming events of today. High school was going to be the death of her.

Damon's eyes narrowed instead of looking at all apologetic, and Elena inwardly sighed as she felt the storm brewing. Why did it always end up with them fighting like this lately? "He asked you out, didn't he?"

"No, he asked me out on one date," Elena replied petulantly, "one."

"And you said yes," he replied, his voice so low and rough that Elena couldn't decide whether to scream at him or to tell him that she didn't mean any of it. Nothing about their relationship made sense, nothing at all, not when they were standing here in the middle of a stupid football field fighting with plenty of other people not that far away. There was just something about Damon that got under her skin and made her forget about everything around her in good ways and bad…

She chose not to tell him about the date, because when it came down to it that wasn't really the point. He had been flirting with her for weeks and hadn't bothered making a move the entire time, so why did he think he got to be jealous now? "Seriously, Damon? Why can't you just admit that you're mad I'm friends with him too when you hate him? Is it really that hard?"

"Do you not remember the _last_ time I had to save you from a Lockwood?" he demanded, stepping closer to her. She reminded herself not to kiss him just so he would shut up, but it was still sorely tempting, at least until she saw that Stefan, Matt, and Tyler were definitely pretending not to listen now in the background as both of their voices raised in volume.

"I was _twelve_ and that was _Tyler_. Do you even hear yourself right now?"

"No," he responded with spite, and she couldn't help but think how striking his eyes were when he was angry, something that pissed her off even more. She was supposed to be angry right now, not thinking about his stupid pretty blue eyes. "Please tell me what I'm missing out on that is so offensive—,"

"I'm not your girlfriend, Damon!" she finally yelled, not missing the fact that Matt's eyebrows rose and Tyler's jaw dropped in amusement, "So if you have a problem with it you're going to have to either _deal_ or change it."

"I—," he started, his voice so small and vulnerable that she leaned forward almost on instinct, all but asking him to kiss her. He was close, so close she could see his eyelashes, but then he whispered, "fine", and walked away in the opposite direction. Stefan went after him and she found herself angrily turning away from Matt and Tyler to see Bonnie waiting not far behind her. She rushed over to her friend, tears filling her eyes, and forced herself not to cry as she walked off the field with Bonnie's arm wrapped around her.

* * *

**A/N: Haha, hoped you like it! Sorry for the drama, but I promise things will be better in the end! If they got together now it'd be anti-climatic. :) **

**Next chapter: Damon and Alaric bond over punching people and Elena wishes that she was homeschooled. :P**

**Please review! It makes the chapters come up quicker! ;)**


	12. Dating and Disasters

**A/N: Thanks for your feedback from the last chapters! Glad to see what you did and didn't like. :) Luckily, this concludes Mason's plot-line in this fic. **

* * *

It was probably unnecessary to say, but Elena hadn't spoken to Damon since their fight on the field. She had seen him a few times in the halls but he had set his jaw and looked like he wanted to murder whoever was blocking him from escaping the vicinity she was in— even pushed a few people to practically run away from her.

She wished she could say that it didn't affect her, or that the first time it happened she hadn't immediately felt tears prick her eyes no matter how angry she was, but she couldn't. It was stupid and he was being immature and it drove her crazy. Why couldn't he just ask her out like a normal guy? But no, instead he had to be all jealous and over-protective while he got his own benefits from all the other girls in high school.

"Grams is going to have to teach us some black magic so we can kill him and confuse the police," Bonnie muttered as he power-walked past her locker and the two of them, making Elena giggle despite everything.

"Or how to brew a love potion that'll make him fall for Mason," she responded bitterly in return, sending evil glares at his retreating back.

Bonnie gave a small laugh, coyly saying, "Ooh, pure evil, I like the way your mind works."

"I just don't know what to do," Elena sighed, "I know that he's Damon, and that he's complicated, but— I made it so easy for him. All he had to do was say yes. I must have been an idiot for thinking Rose was right."

Her friend sighed, leaning against the locker and giving her a supportive look that Elena felt tired of. She didn't want to be pitied… she just wanted… well, _Damon_. "Have you talked to Stefan about it?"

Elena cringed immediately, shaking her head. "No. It would be weird so soon after becoming friends again and it's his brother. I don't want to drag him in the middle of things, you know? There's not much he can say that I don't know anyway."

"Yeah," Bonnie replied in return, "well I think all that's left to do is go out with Mason, stop by the grill, and look _really hot_ doing it. Show him what he lost out on. You're too good for him anyway, Elena. I don't know why you insist on going for him when you know what he's like."

Shutting her locker, Elena pursed her lips and didn't reply. She realized that to everyone in her group of friends, she must seem like a complete idiot. Half the time she felt the same way herself. It didn't make sense for her to fall for Damon, not when he was such a player and she was so straight-laced. It was _idiotic_ to think that she was special to him or that he would change for her. Just because she had seen the vulnerable side to him that he tended not to show didn't mean they were soul mates. For all Elena knew Damon didn't even _have_ a soul mate, he'd just stay perpetually single. Still, something in her disagreed.

"Yeah, I guess I'll do that. It's not like the date wasn't going to end up there anyway."

"Don't sound too excited," Bonnie said, nudging her friend in the side as they started to walk to class.

"I'll try not to," Elena responded dryly with a fake smile. If she could only show her stupid twelve year old self how horrible being able to date guys actually was….

* * *

"What are we doing here again?" Alaric asked Damon for what had to be the third time that night.

"I told you, you're here for backup," Damon replied with irritation, sipping on his coke that he had spiked earlier. This booth was getting less and less comfortable, but he refused to leave before he saw Mason and Elena. He knew the "couple" would show up here, Mason would make sure of it. After all, what would the point be of going on a date with Elena if he couldn't rub it in Damon's face? Freaking dumbass Lockwoods… "Stop whining, already."

"I'm sorry, I just don't get why we have to stalk your ninth grader crush when you could have solved everything and _asked her out_ _yourself_," Alaric replied acerbically. It had only been a week but the two had managed to form a very blunt and open friendship. Damon usually appreciated it but it seemed like Rose had been filling Rick here too much on his love life… He had introduced them at lunch the day after meeting him in the principal's office and both Rose and Alaric had unfortunately hit it off as well and formed their own sass-Damon-as-much-as-possible club.

"Do you want to get with Rose or not?" Damon responded, his eyes narrowing, "'Cause you won't be able to do it without my help. She's complicated."

Alaric laughed, shaking his head. "No, she's not. Nice threat though. I'd almost believe you if I didn't know that Rose does damn well whatever she pleases."

_You've got to be kidding me_, Damon thought bitterly. What good were friends if you couldn't even get them to shut up and follow what you said? Finally he caved, snapping, "Fine, we're here because I think Lockwood is going to do something big to piss me off and I want to be able to kick his ass as soon as possible when that happens."

"Great," Alaric said with a grim sort of frustration, "well in that case I need a lot more alcohol in this weak soda."

Damon grinned in response to that, grabbing the glass and managing to spike it under the table rather effectively. He probably should be concerned at how easily it was to do, or at the very least at how experienced he was at doing it, but he didn't bother giving it much thought. He wasn't an alcoholic like his father, he was just too young to care. Right? I mean Alaric was the same age and doing the same thing.

"Don't tell me he really dragged you into this."

They both looked up with surprise— Damon splashed a lot of Rick's soda on the floor trying to make sure it was hidden until he saw who it was— to see Rose looking both scolding and happy to see them at the same time. At least that was until she turned to Damon and glared rather reproachfully. "What do you even think you're going to do? Punch him in the face when he kisses her? You can't beat up Mason for having the balls to ask her out first."

"You know damn well he's up to something—," Damon spat back in defense, but Rose only rolled her eyes and hopped into the booth on the side of Alaric, who was grinning at the lecture.

"Yes, well, you're a little biased," she said, even though they both knew that she wouldn't have showed up if she really thought Damon was being overly paranoid, "however since you're determined to make a complete ass of yourself I might as well watch the show."

He rolled his eyes, grumpily shoving Rick's drink across the table and beginning to spike his own a little more heavily than it had previously been. Part of him wanted to ditch the two of them and simply drink on his own outside until he saw Elena go inside the grill with Lockwood and then beat the hell out of the douchebag, but he couldn't. He'd never admit it aloud, but something had changed. It had been changing for a while now that he had known Rose for a little over a year, but it was being accelerated now that he had met Alaric. That something that he couldn't admit to anyone no matter how much they already suspected, was that he finally felt— tolerable. He finally felt like even though he was an asshole and more often than not messed things up when it came to Elena that he could still have friends, as cheesy and over the top as that sounded to someone as cynical as him. And so he sat in the booth with Alaric and Rose instead of pouting outside, pretending that he minded the comments about him being a cradle-robber a lot more than he actually did.

* * *

Elena hadn't expected Mason to act much differently on their date than he did when they hung out at lunch, but she also hadn't thought through what it would be like to hang out with him without any of her friends to buffer the situation. They ran out of conversation within the first few minutes of him picking her up in his brand new Ford Bronco that he had gotten for his sixteenth birthday. Every question she thought to ask him she already knew the answer to, and the silence was quickly becoming more and more awkward as they walked through the town park after their movie.

"Did you want to go to the Grill?" she asked finally out of desperation.

"Sounds great," Mason replied with an awkward sort of grin.

She couldn't help but think that this was completely not worth the fight with her parents over whether or not she should be allowed to go on dates at her age, and _especially_ not worth the fight over how much makeup she was allowed to wear. Were first dates always supposed to be this weird? Did everyone have problems finding something to talk about, or was that just because they knew each other already? More than anything, she wished that her very first date ever had been so much more… special.

As much as she and Bonnie had talked about this moment and trying to show off to everyone that she was just as happy with Mason, Elena couldn't help but try and hide as they walked in. Far from wanting to make him jealous, Damon was the _last_ person she wanted to see, mostly because she knew that he'd see how miserable she was in all of two seconds. All she needed was him smirking and gloating at her to make this stupid date that much more miserable. Mason mumbled something about getting drinks and Elena quickly hid in the corner of the grill over by the tables, purposefully not looking around her at all. Luckily he returned pretty quickly, and no one came up to her just yet.

"Look, I know this is really weird," Mason said after watching her closely for a moment from across the table as they sat down, "and I'm sorry that I'm not that good at conversation. I wanted it to be a lot better than this."

"Oh, it's okay," Elena quickly said, a shot of sympathy going through her. She couldn't help but wonder if it was _her_ that was the problem, or at least her comparing every single thing he did to Damon… "I'm sorry that I've been quiet, I just got in a fight with my parents before you picked me up. They're pretty strict sometimes."

He nodded, looking down at the wooden table for a moment before sighing. "So, you realize we're being watched like prey here, right?"

Elena didn't bother looking up or around. She didn't need to see him to know that Damon was here somewhere, watching her. It was irritating, definitely, but she gave Mason an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry. I didn't think he'd be here."

"Of course he is," Mason replied with a roll of his eyes, "I'm messing with his 'territory'. He has to make sure you aren't in to me or something."

"I'm not his territory," Elena snapped, not much liking Mason's tone any more than she liked how Damon was acting. What was it with guys? Were they all this macho and stupid? Why couldn't they be more laid back like Stefan? She couldn't ever see him fighting over something as silly as this, but maybe that's what made him a better friend than boyfriend… "And I'm not yours. Let's make that clear."

"No, it is," Mason said a little too quickly, "but come on, Elena. It's pretty obvious you have a crush on the guy. What does it hurt to make him jealous?"

Oh no. He didn't seriously know… I mean, granted the whole school probably knew, but it still was so incredibly awkward having her date call her out like that. She was supposed to have a crush on the people she went on dates with, right? Unfortunately, instead of the embarrassed apology that probably should have come out of her mouth, she bristled and spat back, "Leave him out of this, Mason. If that's your reason for asking me out then we can forget about it."

It seemed like this was the wrong answer. Mason's face sort of scrunched up and she could tell that she had offended him, not that she really minded at the moment. What was it with him? Yeah, she may have flirted with him a few times, but did he really think she wanted to listen to him bash Damon?

"Seriously? After all the girls he's slept with, some of them other people's _girlfriends_, you don't think he deserves some sort of payback?" Mason asked, "I mean, haven't you considered that us dating would—,"

Elena couldn't remember feeling this angry toward anyone that wasn't Damon, and that was a different kind of anger. That was the sort of anger that came with caring passionately about someone. This anger had more to do with punching someone's face in. She stood up from the table, completely irritated and fully ready to just walk home. Mason stood up as well though, moving to touch her hand. "You know, he has sex with all these other girls while you sit here waiting for him and you still think he wants you? He's a di—,"

But whatever he had intended to say was forgotten immediately as Elena slapped him across the face with a resounding crack. She was shaking, so mad that she wanted to cry, and part of her wasn't sure who she was really angry at any more. People were staring, and there had been several sounds around her, but she didn't pay attention to any of them. She turned to storm off away from him, but he grabbed her wrist before she could.

She felt Damon extremely close behind her then and wondered how long he had been there and what he had heard, but Mason was currently glaring at Damon like he was going to kill him and Elena started worrying about safety and getting kicked out of the Grill.

"You better fucking let her go, Lockwood, or I swear to God—,"

"You'll what?" Mason interrupted, quickly moving closer as Elena got her wrist out of his hold and bravely put herself in between both of them. It was now that she looked around desperately to see if there was anyone she knew. Tyler, Matt, and Stefan were in the corner playing pool but she wasn't sure whether to call them over since Tyler had a short fuse and would more than likely defend his cousin and get Damon even more hurt.

Damon only grinned the same Cheshire cat sort of grin that he gave when he was at his most predatory and angry (most likely knowing that his father would kill him for using an actual threat that could be held against him), something that made Elena panic even more. There was a guy behind Damon who quickly moved Elena out of the way and put himself sort of in front of Damon and said, "Calm down you two, you're scaring—,"

"Come on Elena, let's get you out of here." She turned to see Rose behind her and thought that this whole ambush was getting ridiculous. Part of her wanted to leave with the girl and part of her wanted to stay and see what happened so she could lecture both of these boys.

"No, wait," she told Rose, then turning to Mason with such serious determination that he looked at her while she spoke instead of punching Damon's friend right away, "I get that you're hurt, I really do. I'm sure it sucks to find out that the person you loved didn't love you enough to stay loyal. But you're better than this, Mason, and beating up Damon or anyone else isn't going to make you feel better. Just go home."

He stared at her, as well as everyone else involved, and gave one final scoff before storming away. Elena watched him leave, a little surprised that he had listened but glad that her speech had worked, before looking to Damon.

"Did he hurt you?" Damon asked before she could start scolding him, looking at her wrist. Rose and the other guy walked back to some booth, but Elena didn't feel like they had any more privacy since the whole restaurant had been alerted to the fight.

She shook her head, although to be honest her wrist was a little sore, and tried not to break down in tears. Mumbling some sort of excuse, she picked up her purse and nearly ran out the door, not even checking to see if he followed. He did, of course, and it wasn't until she had reached the back alley of the Grill where she could cry in peace did he catch up to her. Tears were already falling down her face as she leaned her back against the cold cement wall, and she tried to wipe them away as he came up to her with such a sad expression on his face, the hint of pleading for forgiveness dwelling in his blue eyes as well. He became close enough that she was a little nervous and wiped the blotchy mascara from underneath her eyes. "Don't cry, Elena… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause a scene, I just—,"

"They're right, Damon," she said, trying to ignore his apology out of some sort of self-preservation, "everyone keeps telling me I'm an idiot for feeling this way for you and they're right. You don't care about me, not really. You make out and sleep with all these girls at school as if I don't notice and then get jealous when I go on one date. _Really_?"

Her voice had sounded far more vulnerable than she had wanted it to, and admitting her fears had only made even more tears fall. Watching him work through what she had just said with his pained expression and pause of silence made her wish that the stone wall would just swallow her up.

"I can't be what you want me to," he said finally, looking like he wanted to kiss her but was using all of the strength in him to hold back.

"I don't want anything out of you that I know deep down you don't want either," she snapped back at him, "I don't want you to change, Damon, I just want you to realize that the person you're acting like right now isn't you either. If you keep this up it's just going to get worse. I mean who are you kidding with the drinking? You used to_ hate _alcohol. Maybe Rose or Stefan see it as some natural thing because you like to live edgily, but I don't. I _don't_. You can't keep bottling everything up and pretending that you're okay—,"

His lips pursed into a tight line and she watched as his eyes fell upon her lips as well before he moved backward quickly, his arms swinging with him almost defensively. "Or maybe you're just as naïve as the other girls."

She felt every ounce of happiness that she had managed to hold on to that evening leave. Whether or not she was sure if she believed him, whether or not she was sure that he was shoving her away because he couldn't dare care for someone that might end up leaving him— it didn't matter. She couldn't rescue him when he didn't want to be saved. "Not anymore."

And then she left, pushing past him.

* * *

**A/N: I know, I know. I just don't feel that Elena and Damon are ready to be together at all at this point because neither of them are mature enough so please forgive me if it takes a little longer. Damon has one more arc for the end of this year and then we will move on to Sophomore year and focus more on Elena and all the growing up that she needs to do, because she isn't perfect either. **

**WARNING: It's about to get depressing... **


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: This chapter contains possible triggers.**

* * *

Everything was clean, Damon thought miserably as he walked around his empty house, meaning he had nothing left to distract himself with. He hadn't exactly been in the mood to be around people and so he had just gone home after school, but now he realized his mood wasn't any better alone in this damn house. Cleaning the house had been his last ditch effort to avoid going out, although if he really was honest he would say that he probably cleaned every time he was stressed. It had sort of become an odd quirk of his that didn't make much sense considering his reckless personality, but was prevalent nonetheless. He always figured it must have been something he had gotten from his mother.

Another reason he had gone home first, since he was in such an honest mood tonight, was because he missed Stefan. They didn't have the same group of friends by a long shot and so he didn't see him that often at school. What time they had spent together at football practice had ended when Damon finally quit/was kicked off the team. The only times that he really ever saw his brother now was just after their curfew and that was only to make sure that he had finished his homework and already eaten dinner.

It wasn't until the front door of the house opened— Damon quickly chugged the remaining alcohol that he had been drinking, stolen from the cellar that hid all of his father's old and now untouched stash— that he realized just how _alone_ he had felt. Half of him was almost relieved just to have another person in the humongous boarding house no matter who it was. "Hello, father."

"Hello, Damon," was the guarded response. It was only seven, not nearly late enough for either of them to go to bed, but still early enough for them to claim that they had other plans for the night. "Is your school work finished?"

"Yes," he lied, although his father wouldn't ever know the difference. Damon was smart enough to pass tests without ever doing the homework and made sure that he didn't put in any more effort than was absolutely necessary. "How was work?"

"Good," was the short response, "is Stefan out with friends?"

And there it was. The encompassing truth that no matter how much Damon tried to make everything perfect and great, it would still boil down to Stefan. He wished that he was surprised, really he did after everything. Maybe if he was just a little less buzzed he would have been. Instead he felt the responsibility of Stefan become too much of a weight on his shoulders for the minute, and growled back, "Yes, he'll be home at curfew. Did you want me to read him a bedtime story too?"

"Damon," Giuseppe started warningly, but it was of no use.

"Fuck you," he snapped back as he stepped as close to his father as possible, not even caring if he was hit for this. Part of him _wanted_ his father to hit him right now, _wanted_ to be able to hit back and show his father that he wasn't just a weak boy anymore, "you do all this work trying to become a better parent and promise us that we'll be a family but then you can't even _show up_. Just because you're not a goddamn abuser anymore doesn't mean you're a _father_. Do you even know what classes Stefan's taking? Who his friends are? I get that you and I are too effed up to be fixed but you sure as hell better not ruin things with him."

He waited, so close that he was sure his father smelled the alcohol on his breath, but nothing was said. Silence was not what Damon expected as he glared into his father's old brown eyes, and before he wound up punching his father in the jaw he stormed out of the parlor and out of the house. The cold February air did nothing to chill the hot blood running through him, at least for a few minutes. When it finally hit him— he was only wearing a t-shirt after all— it felt like everything inside of him collapsed. Everything that he had used to avoid this was gone, leaving a bone-crushing emptiness.

He was still walking through the woods and out to the main road trying to create some body heat so he didn't freeze before he finally got out the phone from his pocket. As soon as the dial tone stopped and the call was answered, he greeted, "Rick. You busy?"

"No, just out by the falls in the park gazebo," his friend answered, making Damon inwardly swear about the thought of still staying outside, "come hang out with me and Senor Cuervo."

Well at least _someone_ he liked was just as pathetic as he was… "Alright but I'm making Rose pick me up."

"Got it," Alaric said in response, "see you in a few."

Damon muttered goodbye before looking around at where he was on the main road and sitting down to call Rose. He pulled his knees up to his chest, briefly tempted to just lay in the road and see if a car hit him. She picked up fairly quickly, asking, "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean what's wrong?" he snapped, not in the mood for her psychoanalyzing him. It was cold and he was still in a foul mood and he almost hung up out of sheer angst. Maybe he would just be better off alone anyway.

"Nothing," she sighed, and he wondered what exactly was going through her mind, "where are you?"

"Side of the road outside the property," he said vaguely, knowing she'd be able to find him without him being more specific. That was just the thing about Rose. "Bring me a jacket."

"Yes, master," she replied sassily, but Damon didn't hear quite the amount of amusement in her voice that he usually did. She hung up right after and he considered calling her back and telling her never mind, but that wouldn't work anyway. She'd see through him and hunt him down and then he'd be even more annoyed. So he sat, staring into the dark black of the forest across the road, a street lamp further down the road providing only the most basic light.

He tried to chase the emptiness away, told himself that he was just being one of those stupid over-emotional people that he hated, but it only made him feel worse. He thought of his father, wondered if the stupid man was drinking or simply going to work in his office. It killed him, realizing that he wanted— no, needed— the person he hated most to love him. All he wanted was some sort of recognition or anything, but he meant nothing to the man. Even Stefan would survive without him, which was completely apparent lately. Elena hated him, she'd barely even looked at him the past few months since the whole Mason debacle. He wondered, rather desperately, what his mother would say if he told her how alone he felt, but it was her that was the biggest reminder of how abandoned he was.

It was another fifteen minutes as he sat, swallowed up by his emotions, before Rose's car pulled up. He stood up and got in the car, not even looking at Rose as he used the seatbelt to busy himself. Not even the slightest bit fooled, Rose watched him with concerned eyes. "God, Damon, you look like hell. What happened?"

"Rick is waiting at the gazebo," he replied coldly, ignoring the inquiry. He didn't even realize how numb he had become until Rose turned the car heater up and his skin started to prickle with the temperature change.

"Yes, and I am fantastic at driving while people talk," she replied, turning around and starting to drive toward town. "Is it your Dad?"

He ignored her. Rose and Alaric may have been the only people keeping him hanging on right now, but there was too much of him that was twisted and tempted to push them away as much as he could. Rose glared at him and stopped the car with such a jarring halt that Damon was surprised that she didn't completely strip the brakes, his head almost hitting the dashboard. Swearing, he turned to glare at her as he rubbed her neck and looked back to make sure they weren't about to be hit. "What the _hell_—,"

"I realize, Damon, that you don't open up to people, but if you don't do something you're going to end up—,"

Damon didn't waste a moment before unbuckling his seat belt and getting out of the car before Rose could stop him. He started walking after slamming her door shut and Rose started driving beside him, the car window rolled down as she yelled, "_Damon Salvatore_, you idiot, get back in this car!"

Fully intending to keep walking all the way to the park until she gave up, he was surprised when she actually drove forward and hit him with her car, just lightly enough to knock him over and piss him off. He got up from the asphalt and brushed off his hands on his jeans, turning around as fast as he could to yell, "Bit—, "

But she honked the horn before he could even finish, a grin on her face, and he kicked her bumper rather hard before grudgingly getting back into the passenger seat. He didn't put his seat belt on again this time, folding his arms angrily instead as she giggled while driving. "You should have seen your face—,"

"You hit me with your stupid car!" he exclaimed, "you're lucky Officer Fell hates me for toilet papering the Lockwood property."

"Have you considered that there is an inordinate amount of Fell's in this town?" Rose asked, still smirking as she playfully ignored his anger, "I mean the principal wanting to move from elementary to high school I understand, but it seems like they're trying to take all of the standard authority jobs in this town."

Damon rolled his eyes, ignoring her as she went on about how weird it was that no one ever left Mystic Falls when it was one of the silliest small towns she had ever been forced to live in. She had started going on about how there were too many town events as soon as they reached the gazebo, and Damon grabbed the coat she had brought out of the back seat once she parked and jumped out of the car and walked over to Alaric who smiled at the both of them.

"Is that my coat?" Rick asked Damon, who glanced at Rose.

She only shrugged with a smile as if to say it was all that she had, and Damon rolled his eyes once more. Alaric glared at her as soon as he caught on, snapping, "Great, now it'll be five weeks before I get it back."

"Didn't your teacher ever tell you to share?" Rose laughed, sitting down beside Rick with a grin. Damon stole the bottle from Rick as he sat down on the other side, quickly taking a much larger gulp than he should have. He spent the next few minutes coughing, his throat burning a lot more than he thought it would. As much as it hurt, he still took another shot right after.

"Whoa, come on, leave some for the rest of us," Alaric said, taking the bottle back and putting the lid back on after a meaningful glance to Rose. Damon wanted to tell them both that they sucked at being subtle, but decided against it as he felt the alcohol hit rather quickly. He probably shouldn't have drank earlier today…

"You guys are such idiots," Rose said as she watched him, "don't you have anything better than to kill your livers before you're even twenty one?"

"What are you suggesting?" Damon slurred, a flirty tone creeping into his voice as he wiggled his eyebrows, making Rose roll her eyes.

"Watch it, Damon," Alaric warned as he wrapped an arm around Rose, making the girl cringe at the strong smell of alcohol.

He rolled his eyes in response, not able to think of a snappy comeback when the sight of them together was a little painful. He had selfishly hoped the past few months, despite how clearly perfect they were for each other, that they wouldn't get together. Not because he couldn't sleep with Rose anymore— although that _was_ annoying— but more that watching how easily they made the whole "love" thing look made him that more frustrated that he had messed things up with Elena.

"Don't worry," Rose said conspiratorially into Alaric's ear, still whispering loud enough for Damon to hear, "the only thing either of you are doing in bed tonight is sleeping this off."

Alaric's smirk slid off his face rather quickly and it was only a few more minutes before Damon could feel the full effects of the alcohol coming on _strongly_. "You asshole, Rick, how strong is this stuff?"

"Strong," Alaric laughed, "why you never had tequila before?"

"No," he said, shaking his head as the whole park started spinning. After handling whiskey and bourbon so well Damon had always thought that he had been born to be a teenage drinker. _Clearly_, he considered as he tried desperately not to throw up,_ I'm getting too much of an ego_.

"Ugh, come on, let's get him to your apartment before he starts puking and we get caught," Rose said to Alaric, who sighed and grabbed one of Damon's arms, slinging it around his shoulder. Rose got on the other side and the three of them started walking to her beat up little car. It took far longer than it should have for them to get there, walking the most crooked and inefficient line ever. It was Damon that stumbled over a rock badly enough that he tripped, and soon enough all three of them were on the ground. He looked to Alaric who seemed annoyed and then to Rose who almost immediately bust up laughing. Damon groaned, still too sick to his stomach to laugh, but Rick had joined Rose and it was a few minutes before they finally got up and tried again.

"Next time you decide to get wasted, why don't you just do it at Rick's place?" Rose asked when Alaric had dumped Damon into the passenger seat and squeezed into the backseat of the two door car.

Damon quickly leaned his seat back to ease his nausea, trying to focus as Alaric replied, "My place is depressing."

"It really is," he managed to comment, chiming in before either Rose or Alaric decided to start lecturing him or even worse— the mood got dark and they all started to start spilling their feelings about how broken they were. "You can practically smell the beginnings of forty-year old virgin."

"Shut the hell up," Alaric snapped, hitting the back of Damon's seat rather hard. He laughed hard, despite thinking he might throw up if he didn't stop soon. It wasn't even really that funny, he realized. He had definitely overdone it, but in his defense he really hadn't known that tequila would affect him like this. _Damn Cuervo._

"You must not have been there lately," Rose laughed in response, making Alaric admonish her. Damon scowled once he realized just what she was getting at.

They drove in silence for a few minutes, Damon barely able to focus on where they were going, but when Rose spoke next he realized that she and Alaric must have been non verbally communicating via the rearview mirror because it seemed that the mood had turned serious, "You two are going to have to man up and face your demons sometime, you know that? Before you die of alcohol poisoning."

"My demons are perfectly fine caged up, thank you," Damon responded.

"What he said," Alaric replied.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

Damon had never had enough alcohol that he had blacked out. He'd never so much as fainted before, whether from seeing blood or the pain of getting his ass kicked in a fight. In other words, he was completely inexperienced when he woke up to see that there was a huge piece of glass sticking out of his leg— part of the windshield— and that the metal of the car door was crushing his right arm and shoulder. It didn't hurt right way, just felt like an intense pressure, something that scared him as he started to come to— was he dead?— but when he tried to move his head to the left to see if Rose was alright pain shot through his neck with an excruciating force. It hurt too much to even swear and for a moment he thought that he might black out again.

"Rose?" he managed to say, such a hoarse whisper escaping his lips that he was sure she couldn't hear him. She didn't move and so he said it again, "Rose," and again, "Rose!", until he was sure that at least one of those times should have caused her to stir. The rear view mirror was no longer attached and so he couldn't look back to see if Alaric was okay either. He felt himself start to lose control of his breathing, everything racing around him as he reached through the blinding pain and shook Rose with his free left arm until her head rolled and he saw her bloodied face.

It didn't register, at first, that her eyes were open when they shouldn't be. It didn't register that there were sirens growing louder and louder. He was helpless, unable to move from the crushed car to help or save anyone. Nothing he did made his body move how he wanted and all he did was cause himself so much pain that he cried out as he tried to fight against the twisted metal encasing his body. When the paramedics and firefighters finally arrived and he heard shouting all around them, he called out in return. Through the broken glass of the shattered windshield he made sure to tell them to get Rose and Alaric first. It was no relief when they finally pried him out like he was a broken rag doll, immediately strapping him to a board and ignoring his pleas for information on Rose. He demanded to know if she would be okay, then begged, and it was their silence that suffocated him. It wasn't until he was in the ambulance and either the pain or the morphine was making him go in and out of consciousness that he heard the paramedics radio the hospital, "Three teens— one DOA, one unconscious, the other responsive with trauma to head, shoulder and arm, leg—,"

* * *

"You're such a cheater, Matt Donovan," Elena laughed as Matt and Stefan easily beat her and Bonnie once more in a round of pool at the Grill. It was fairly quiet at the restaurant that night for a Friday, maybe because the whole town had been alerted that this was the night all of the teens hung out here. Their group had made it tradition, odd maybe considering one of Elena's least favorite memories was here, but she still loved every moment of it. Eighth grade and feeling uncomfortable around her friends was long behind her.

"I think someone is just a sore loser," Stefan teased, right beside her with a grin on his face. She shoved him back playfully, rolling her eyes. More than anything, she loved that she was finally able to hang out with Stefan and not have that awkward romantic tension. He and Lexi were still dating, and while they seemed like an odd couple, Elena was glad that he was happy and even gladder that she was finally over her whole jealousy thing. Lexi was actually pretty cool.

"I'm going to go get us some drinks," Matt said after sticking his tongue out at Elena. Bonnie went with him, and as soon as they were gone, Elena stopped pretending that she didn't talk to Stefan about girl things and quickly asked, "So you're taking Lexi to the winter formal, right? How are you going to ask her?"

Stefan gave a long-suffering sigh that Elena ignored, knowing him well enough to know that there was no way that he hadn't already planned it, but he was saved as Lexi finally arrived a little late. It took a few seconds with how content Elena currently was to register how serious and completely stricken Lexi looked as she ran up to Stefan. Her usual pale face was even whiter, making her look even more ghost-like and it wasn't until she was close that Elena realized that there were tears threatening to fall from the girl's eyes. "Have you talked to Damon, Stefan?"

"Not since earlier," he said, taking Lexi's arms in his hands as he looked just as shocked as Elena felt, "what happened?"

"There was a car accident, I passed it on the way here. It was Rose's car and there was a body bag Stefan, the car was so—,"

It was as if all of the lights in the room had gone out, as if her heart had decided to stop beating out of sheer terror and she couldn't even think as Stefan immediately pulled out his phone and pounded the keys. She could see the fear in Stefan's eyes just as much as she could taste it in her mouth and Stefan dialed only once more before desperately saying, "It's going to voice mail."

Her phone started ringing and her heart raced until she saw that it was her father. Curfew could wait, she thought quickly as she ignored the call. She didn't think about anything else, too focused as she grabbed Stefan's hand and running out the door. It was all a blur— telling Bonnie they'd call her, piling into Lexi's car to go to the hospital, Elena trying herself to call Damon over and over as Stefan snapped at Lexi to drive faster. Elena felt tears start to fall as she got his stupid snappy voice mail for what had to be the fifth time, knowing that somewhere Damon was very much not alright whether he was physically fine or not. She wished more than anything that she was old enough to drive as Lexi stopped at another red light, because not being in control was making her even more on edge. She looked at Stefan, still holding the phone tight in her eyes in case Damon called, sputtering, "He's not answering, Stefan."

Stefan grabbed her hand tightly. "Lexi, go _faster_, I don't care about the effing speed limit—,"

"I am!" she snapped back, but it still felt like hours before they got to the hospital even though the drive was only fifteen minutes. Lexi muttered something about parking as she dropped off Elena and Stefan at the Emergency Room entrance. Elena was only vaguely aware of Stefan letting go of her hand as they reached the admitting nurse and Stefan demanded, "Hello, I need to know if my brother was taken here? Damon Salvatore? His friend Rose was in a car crash."

The lady's lips pursed and she quickly looked at her computer before finally answering, "Yes, he was admitted. You won't be able to see him, he's in surgery right now."

Elena broke into tears and Stefan hugged her. One of the nurses showed them to a different waiting room outside of the ICU where they saw Mr. Salvatore waiting. Stefan ran over to him looking angry and scared all at the same time, demanding to know, "Why didn't you call me?!"

"I did," the man said, pulling his son into an embrace that surprised Elena and it seemed Stefan too. "I did, son, I must have had the wrong number. I just called the Gilbert's trying to find you."

_Typical_, she thought, wishing that Stefan didn't have to deal with this right now but still solely focused as she asked Mr. Salvatore, "Is he okay? They told us he was in surgery."

"The doctor said he suffered a lot of trauma," the man said gravely, with such emotion that Elena almost felt bad for being angry a second ago, "he's in surgery right now to reduce some of the brain swelling and to fix the other injuries. They're saying he's still in critical condition."

Stefan had already pulled away from his father and so Elena could see his full reaction to the news without meaning to. Seeing Stefan cry when they were little had always been her least favorite thing in the world, seeing him cry now when it had been years since the last time— and over Damon— made even more tears fall from her eyes. Her throat hurt from holding back the actual sobs that were threatening and she thought she might have a complete breakdown until someone pulled her arm and she turned around to see her father standing there. He gave a nod to Giuseppe before giving Stefan's arm a solemn squeeze. Only seconds later when they had walked a little bit away, Elena wrapped her arms tight around him and he held her back as she cried into his chest. Somehow it helped make things seem not as bleak as stupid as that was, but she still continued to cry until she finally managed to say, "Daddy they said he might not make it."

"I know," he said, not telling her it would be okay like she so desperately wanted, "but I'm here and I love you."

He pulled away a few minutes after that, telling her that he was going to talk to some of the staff that he knew. She wished that her father was a surgeon so he could fix Damon himself, but supposed that him trying to get information was better than nothing. Maybe they would tell him because he was a doctor. Once she couldn't see him walking down the hall anymore she turned back around. Stefan was currently pacing back and forth and it was only now that she finally realized Lexi hadn't come in with them. Elena walked over to him, only slightly more balanced now. Mr. Salvatore was sitting not that far off in a chair with his head in his hands, and it was him that Elena chose to address. "Was— was it Rose that died?"

The man looked up, so caught in his anguish that perhaps he didn't realize who he was talking to and what about, only nodding. Elena felt her tears rise back up with a complete vengeance. Stefan looked at her and she knew as their eyes met that they had the exact same thought. "It'll be okay," she insisted.

"No it won't," Stefan said, shaking his head as he looked up at the lights, a sure sign he was trying not to cry as well, "even if he survives, he won't make it through this, Elena."

She knew what he meant, of course. Just trying to imagine herself in Damon's place, trying to picture either Bonnie or Stefan dying beside her— it was impossible to even sort of grasp. There weren't any words she could come up with to counter it, at least, until she remembered her only real conversation with Rose. _Promise me you won't give up on him_. It had been so casual at the time and about something so silly as Elena's stupid crush, but it overwhelmed her now. "He will, Stefan, even if we have to make him. He has to."

* * *

**A/N: Please, please don't hate me. I did mention that it was going to get more depressing for a little bit. It was really hard for me to write this but I strongly believe that this was needed for the story I am writing and for Damon's will be flashbacks, so this is not the last you will see of Rose. Damon grew a lot from Rose's death in the show and I've always planned on paralleling that. Hopefully you can trust me to do it. Love you guys. Thanks for reading.**


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